War Isn't About Forgiveness
by KnightofBam
Summary: Extreme AU story that treats magic a bit differently. What if scenario in which timeturners don't exist and the butterfly effect this has on the Harry Potter universe from the end of book 3 on. Follow Harry as he grows up a bit more vulnerable, bitter, and in the pursuit of revenge for the deaths of his parents and to protect those he cares about in the war to come.
1. Chapter 1: Grimm

War isn't about Forgiveness

He was cursed. He was cursed and alone once again in this damn house at number 4 Privet Drive, Surrey. He was alone in the smallest bedroom owned by people who hated him and who he hated. He was stuck here once again, forced to survive this hell hole once again because Dumbledore insisted that "it is for your safety Mr. Potter."

Dumbledore had told him that many times and something about wards connected to his aunt, his cousin, and himself through his mother. He was forced to live here because those people were his 'family' or more specifically because of blood magic.

As if, those _people_ are my family they … they… they've messed with me for years and now I stuck here again. I hate them! If only Sirius had … oh Merlin Sirius I'm so so so sorry … you were the best family I've ever had even it was for only a night Harry thought.

He flipped over on his bed glad the house was empty for the day as he screamed into his pillow as anger, grief, and stress overwhelmed him from thinking of the rat, Sirius, and Lupin. All morons in their own right from the decisions they made right along with himself.

"We should have killed him like they said" he said out loud to no one

A second passed before Harry reconsidered his dark thoughts Then again maybe we should've stunned him and floated him back to Hogwarts, though Professor Lup-, Remus as he instated, still forgot to take his potion.

Him being a werewolf explains why he didn't take me in, but Merlin the man is all book smarts and no common sense forgetting his potion, showing our worst fears to each other in front of the whole school, "not ever popping into my life for a visit, not looking into Sirius!" Harry roared that last bit out loud and the room shook a bit and the air popped.

He stood and began to pace the room in anger cursing under his breathe thinking of the man. Eventually he yelled again and took his pillow and tossed it across the room as hard as he could it struck the wall uselessly and Harry simply stared at it fuming for a moment before his gaze was drawn to the single photo on the desk to the left.

It was a photo of Harry's parents at their wedding with Sirius and Remus to James' side, and several women Harry didn't recognize to Lily's side. Harry smiled despite himself it was a gift from Remus at the end of the year a photo of their wedding the only none magical photo Remus had of them that Harry could leave out.

Although Harry could tell it had been noticeably cropped on one side, a hand at the edge of frame proved it. It seemed Remus had at least the common sense to remove Pettigrew before gifting it to Harry because he would've done it if Remus hadn't.

The man might lack common sense but he wasn't totally without it. Harry thought with a snort

He flopped back onto his lumpy mattress "Ugh why didn't we kill the rat!" he grumbled into his pillow.

Why didn't I let them do it?! Something to do with wanting Sirius to get off I guess. Would the body itself have served as enough proof? he wondered

"They did think he was dead from a blasting curse but even with his body it wouldn't have been evidence. Not that Sirius should've needed evidence to prove his innocence since he wasn't given a damn trail. Blooding wizarding government is worse than the muggles can't even bother giving a show trail for 'war criminals'.

After a moment of thoughtless brooding Harry flopped onto his back and stared up at the lit ceiling. He considered turning off the light to sleep but he didn't dare, afraid of what sleep would bring him.

Instead his thoughts turned again this time to himself he wondered if there was anything he could've should've done differently. He wondered not just what he could've fixed that night but also his whole life from big too small. Was there anyway he could've won the quidditch game for Gryffindor before the dementors knocked him out? Was Hermione being petrified because of him and what of his friend's sister Ginny was she targeted because Malfoy knew it would hurt him? Could he have kept his friends safer if he had gone alone to protect the stone? Is there any way he could've kept Dudley and his gang from bullying anyone and everyone that tried to be his friend?

Especially his short term Brandon who Piers had pushed off a jungle gym while no teacher was looking breaking his leg so badly his father moved him to another school when no one was punished. Harry never did figure out what happened to Brandon did his leg heal or was he crippled forever and if so that was also his fault?

Harry didn't know he just knew his whole life was a mess even at the start when Voldemort killed his parents and tried to kill him. Was Voldemort specifically after Harry? It certainly felt that way to him. Did that mean that his parents were killed because of him?

He had never considered this before for a moment Harry felt he couldn't breathe and then all at once he was breathing too fast he couldn't get the thought out of his head. He kept wondering if it was his fault over and over not knowing how long he stayed like that before finally he started gasping for air forcing him to acknowledge his own panic he sought something to slow his breathing not finding anything suitable nearby his panic only grew his vision grew dark and he lost his balance and fell backwards, fortunately onto his small bed. His last thought before darkness engulfed him was "Maybe I'm not cursed, maybe I am the bloody curse!".

He was in the woods again with howling in the distance his breathe visible and his body ached. He knew exactly where at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and the Great Lake and he knew what was coming. The first few times he had this dream he had attempted to fight it but by now he knew it was no use.

He let his body go through the motions of running toward the figure laying at the water's edge he could hear his best friend running behind him trying to keep up. She wasn't nearly as fast as him both because she was a girl and more importantly she hadn't had to run to keep from being beaten up everyday as a kid, instead kids just ignored her.

It didn't matter now though they had already reached the shore and there they found the collapsed form of a badly injured gaunt man with long black hair breathing heavily from his back staring up at the sky.

"Sirius!" his body exclaimed on its own as he kneeled down at the man's side Hermione doing the same on the other attempting to cast the only healing charm she knew as many times as she could. It did little but small scrapes and cuts closed and the pain lessened.

"Harry" the man said looking at him sadly "You … you shouldn't be here neither of you should. I fought off the wolf injured him I think" he paused catching his breath clearly in pain and wincing as another cut closed "but you should get back to the castle there is no telling if or when it will come back."

"I can't leave you here Sirius I … I need you … you're the only family I have left please Sirius hang in there. Hermione help m-…" that was as far as he got before he felt the air go from chilly to freezing on a June night and he couldn't help but feel there was no hope in saving Sirius in fact as he looked up he was fairly sure they were all doomed.

Hermione who had looked up from her work at the sound of her name turned her head to follow gaze over the lake. Both stared in silent horror for a moment as dozens no at least a hundred dementors making their way toward them over the water. Harry could see it freeze as they passed over and with every second they drew closer and closer making Harry feel fear grip him thought they weren't near enough to really affect him with their aura all the way across the lake but the mere sight made him more light headed. He heard a distant sound several times before he was physically pulled to his feet.

"-ry! Harry! Harry! Snap out it we need to go" Hermione shouted now right in his face

It took him a second to come to his senses and his first instinct was to simply listen to Hermione and run because the dementors would be here in less than a minute. Then he remembered the man dying at his side the one who knew his parents, had tried to get revenge for them, and who had saved he and his friends not half and hour ago."We can't not without Sirius!" he shouted back glancing down at his now apparently unconscious godfather.

For less a second he saw his friend hesitate fear clearly in her brown eyes meeting his own determined green. Eventually after what felt like a life time but was only a moment she nodded and turned and spoke clearly "Wingardium leviosa."

The two took off around the lake shore toward the castle as quickly as they could but Hermione who had already tired quickly before while running now tired even faster while running and casting it didn't take Harry long to notice and he added his own levitation spell to hers. The reduced load caused her breathing to even out for a minute but Harry felt Sirus growing heavier and heavier against his magic as they ran until he was sure that he now carrying him alone and it was now him struggling to keep going but he could tell she was in no condition to cast again. Still for a brief moment he thought they might make it to the castle. It was growing in size with every step and he thought he could carry Sirius forever if their lives depended on it.

Unfortunately it wasn't to be he could feel that thought fading as the world grew colder and desolate as the demons gained ground. He turned his head and looked back upon the lake with horror to find they were nearly upon him and in that moment of weakness he considered leaving Sirius and running to hide in the woods with Hermione hoping neither wolf nor demon found them till morning.

The horrible thought passed and he attempted to surge forward determined to reach the castle Hermione copying him. It didn't matter though the dementors didn't seem to tire while Hermione and he did. It wasn't long before he heard Hermione trip or perhaps just collapse behind him he turned and found the dementors only a couple dozen meters from them and realized they couldn't escape.

It was in that moment Harry had to make a decision that likely didn't have a winning scenario did he stay to protect his friend or did keep running with his godfather in hopes that they might escape. For Harry there was barely even a thought given, he couldn't abandon his friend who had chased him here to help. So acting on instinct he released the levitation spell on Sirius without so much of a though causing the man to sink to the ground.

He then moved toward Hermione to help her to her feet with one hand while the other hand cast and he shouted "Expecto Patronum!" A silvery white shield of energy burst from his wand protecting both himself and Hermione just in time as several dementors slammed face first into the barrier only to bounce off and scream in agony their skin seeming to burn on impact.

The shield wasn't Harry's best attempt at the charm but it was on the upper end and he found that it did the job but was tiring him quickly still he knew he could keep it going so long as he continued to focus on it and protecting Hermione and and "Sirius!" he shouted. In his panic to protect his friend he had left his godfather on the ground outside of the range of the charm already several dementors were already taking passes at him sucking happiness and magic from the man. He grabbed Hermione's hand and with his shield he charged the beast causing them to scatter but immediately he could somehow feel another coming from behind he whipped around with his shield and continued to rebuff any that drew close. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever they needed to move.

"Hermione lift Sirius" he shouted as he spun toward his friend but even from the glance he got he tell fear gripped her.

"Hermione we need to move or we're going to die!" he screamed

This shook his friend out of her stupor she moved quickly and with ease of practice levitated Sirius. "I've … I've got him" she stuttered out still clearly scared

At once they began to move but it was barely a walk with Harry moving constantly to defend them and Hermione having to stay close. Still they kept going moving for minutes getting closer and closer to the castle and specifically the boat house which lie at the base of the path toward Hogwarts. Harry didn't have a lot of time to think while all this occurred he was too focused on keeping them alive his only other thoughts were that he hoped someone would see them and that perhaps Snape and Ron had alerted Dumbledore by now that something was wrong.

Unfortunately he was tiring fast he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep the spell going as they neared the boat house his body and his magic screamed for him to stop only sheer force of will kept him going. Hermione must have noticed the strain it was putting on him she knew they would never make it up the hill to the castle where Dumbledore and the major wards began and on some level so did he even if it wasn't exactly a conscious thought.

So it came as no surprise when she shouted "The boat house Harry, we can try to hide in the boat house it's just up ahead! Come on we can make it!"

With a renewed sense of hope they pressed forward but Harry felt his vision getting blurrier and blurrier as they walked till he was sure he must have passed out while walking and casting. Then disaster struck he felt something ram into his side knocking him over and ending the spell. He heard Hermione scream his name but he couldn't see straight and world spun for a moment when it came into focus he saw her rushing to help him with Sirius being dragged along behind her. Just as she him reached the demons arrived and their feast began Harry could feel his happiness and magic being ripped away. He could hear Hermione scream and collapse beside him and saw Sirius fall with a thump several feet away.

He wasn't sure exactly how long the dementors played with them like a child played with their food but he could remember it all. The longer it went on the more tired he felt while also feeling sharp stabs of pain every time one drew close enough to take a bite of their auras. The whole world seemed to turn gray as he watched them drain them all.

Eventually though the demons decided to fulfill their orders and one perhaps a leader or just one chosen at random approached Sirius slowly and hovered above him and despite all the horror Harry had seen that night nothing was more revolting than watching the creature remove its hood to reveal a face that seemed horrible and ever shifting it was otherworldly both like shadows of demons, the faces of those crying out in fear, as well as those of horrible evil people but with no eyes. Harry could swear Vernon's face was a part of the monstrosity for a moment. The only thing constant and seemingly solid was its gray black mouth that smirked before revealing razor sharp teeth that approached Sirius's own mouth.

Harry tried to move but another dementor made a pass as he did causing sharp pain to keep him in place. All he could do was watch as the dementor placed its kiss on his Godfather before pulling away for a literal second it stayed there hovering above the man before a small light emerged from Sirius' mouth the dementor stared almost transfixed by the light for a moment then two before a serpent like tongue licked the beasts lips and in one quick motion it lunged forward and ate the soul.

The world froze for Harry then this man who was his father's friend, Harry's godfather, a man he barely knew but knew was innocent and knew he was his last real chance at a normal life, of having a family, having a…a…a Dad! He was gone! He wanted it so bad he wanted someone to love and to love him so bad and he was gone taken by this demon. As the next dementor began to swoop toward he and Hermione he felt righteous anger toward them and love for his Godfather and what might have been as he shouted once again "Expecto Patronum!" and all at once the world was full of light.

As his vision adjusted he watched as the dementor crashed into the seemingly golden light screaming in pain before it dissolved as it reached toward Harry. The light continued to rise though taking shape into clearly a large four legged beast formed and charged the swarm harming or destroying any demon it touched. It was only as Harry figured out what form the animal had taken that he came out of his shock from his ability to cast the spell perfectly, its strange color, and most importantly the apparent destruction of the unkillable demon. As Harry looked on he realized the beast was familiar that he had been seeing it all year it was a large dog, a largely shaggy dog, a Grimm despite the coloring!

Harry looked toward Sirius' body in response to this realization and noticed the dementor that had eaten Sirius' soul still hovered there seemingly unaware of the plight of its kin licking its lips one last time and with a smile placing its hood on its head once more. Harry was revolted by the creature and wanted it dead more than anything else. Harry heard the golden Grimm howl, it literally howled, how Harry didn't know but one second it was high above scattering the other dementors the next it was dive bombing the killer seemingly in response to Harry's desire.

The monster turned at the sound of the howl and tried to escape as it realized it was the target of the angry Grimm but it was not nearly quick enough and within seconds of turning to flee the Grimm flew through its back. The dementor like the others that had taken direct blows screeched in pain before it seemed to dissolve into ashes. Harry only smiled at the destruction of beast and he felt something change in his magic then the golden Grimm changed to the normal white and silver of the spell. Harry looked up and saw the rest of the dementors were all fleeing in different directions. Harry let out a sigh as the Grimm approached him and a passed out Hermione he patted the Grimm's head feeling something akin to a ghost but much warmer and more comforting before releasing the spell and watching the creature fade.

As calm returned to the night his adrenaline wore down and he felt himself begin to fade before he remembered they weren't out of the woods yet. Literally with a werewolf on the loose not to mention the other dangers of the forest even if they were on the edge. He rolled onto his knee and shook Hermione. "Come on wake up, wake up" he yelled. The girl stirred but wouldn't wake he tried again still nothing, he tired again and well the third try was the charm and the girl woke and groggily said "Harry?"

"Come one get up we have to go Hermione!" Harry said

The girl looked confused but let Harry pull her to her feet. Together they made their way toward the boat house passing Sirius' body Harry couldn't even look at it. They stumbled into the building a minute later pulling each other the whole way and as soon as they did Harry knew he was done his vision grew black his legs gave out he heard something but all he knew was darkness.


	2. Chapter 2: Fretting and Flights

The first thing Harry noticed when he woke wasn't something he could see, smell, taste, or even hear, for once there was no sobbing. Instead the first thing he noticed was that he felt wet and cold then for a moment the dream, those memories of that night, ran through his head but like most dreams the clear view he had of it was soon fading from his head leaving him only full of terror in a dark soundless room.

That terror gripped him but this wasn't the first time he had that dream nor the worst. The first time had been the night after the incident he had woken up in his dorm horrified and nauseous. Immediately he ran to the connected bathroom and expelled his dinner violently all the while crying.

Truly he was fortunate that some blessed soul had long ago put a ward in all the bathrooms to keep sound in and also rid the room of bad smells quickly. He was sure the sound portion was probably added not because someone was that loud relieving themselves but because someone thought themselves the next Elton John. Hermione had informed him about that bit of trivia first year while they had, well she had been brewing the polyjuice potion.

If it wasn't for that Harry was certain his roommates would've heard him puking and crying in there or heard him crying almost every night after that. He kept having the dream and would wake up and begin to uncontrollably sob every time he had it that week. Fortunately that was the only night he puked although he felt the urge on several other occasions.

After that first night he didn't sleep at all afraid of what it would bring and when he finally collapsed from exhaustion the night after that he was blessed without any dreams. Since then he had tried to repeat his previous success several times but it seemed the first time was a coincidence as two nights after his victory when he finally slept again the dream was back. After that Harry returned to a normal sleeping pattern and found sometimes he would have the dream and others times nothing at all there was no in between and there was no pattern to it.

It had been two weeks now one since he returned 'home' and the longest he had managed to go without the dream was three nights of sleep broken last night as the nightmare had returned. He had begun to hope it had passed that he might even start to have other dreams again. Of course that thought process was what lead him to think about his hope to escape this shitty place. Which seems to have caused him to spiral into a pit of despair which resulted in a panic attack he thought glumly.

It wasn't the first one of those he had either in fact even before this he had several over the years because of 'family' and all they had done to him and of course because of Voldemort. In past though he had maybe 4 or 5 he wasn't quite sure but in recent weeks well he had was sure he had already matched the total number he had before he had the incident and then some.

Still that was the first time he had passed out from one, but on the other hand this was the first time he had woken without sobbing. So he wasn't sure if he was getting any better perhaps he should mail Hermione about it like she made him promise he would when she and Ron helped calmed him down during one of his episodes.

She like him had nightmares about the incident but hers were vaguer, she told him she had passed out early into the fight from a combination of exhaustion, trauma, and the dementors drain. He didn't really want to write her though he would probably end up having to explain how many of these attacks and dreams there had been and who knew what else. But he was genuinely scared about what was going on and he had no one else to turn to.

Certainly not his 'family' and definitely not any of his professors he didn't trust them well enough nor want their pity, including Remus who while beginning to reconcile with him and writing him wasn't anywhere near this kind of trust yet. Lastly was his other friends which had the same issue he didn't trust most of them or he didn't think they would be of much help, in particular Ron fell into the last part of that statement. His best mate had been there for him through thick and thin so far and had gotten injured multiple time because of him but the boy wasn't exactly the best thinker intellectually or emotionally.

So Harry had no choice he would have to write Hermione he needed someone to talk to about all this even it was to just reassure him that he would be ok. He wasn't quite sure what help Hermione would be able to offer overall sure she had suffered the same thing but to a lesser degree because it wasn't her godfather and she wasn't awake for a lot of it. But Harry knows his best friend is smart and he just hoped she could tell him something anything that might make him better.

It was only now Harry realized he was still soaking wet and cold covered in a large amount of his own sweat laying in the dark for who knows how long. He smelled himself and grimaced so reached around till he found a nearby lamp which he switched on.

This allowed him to get up and strip out of his wet dirty clothes and slip on a clean or at least dry pair of boxers then throw a blanket around himself as he sat at the small desk in the room. He was cozy and warm now at least even if he still smelled terrible it was only then he noticed the time, past 4 in the morning of all things.

He wondered then if going back to sleep would be worth it or not once he finished writing. Sure he no longer cooked or cleaned or really did any work around the house since he returned from his 1st year. In fact they mostly left him alone now seemed afraid of him but that didn't mean he wanted to be asleep while they were awake they still hated him and he did his best to avoid them.

He made his own food or was provided left overs by his aunt to keep him away from the kitchen. During the day he tried to either stay in his room or out of the house as to avoid them. They might be afraid of him now but even though he had his wand on him all the time, he didn't want to admit it but he was still afraid of them too.

He decided he would figure out if he would sleep again later though for now writing to Hermione was harder than Harry thought. He kept trying to figure out how to play down the problem. Both the severity of his problems and the frequency of them but he was afraid Hermione would just tell him it would pass and not provide any help at all if he didn't explain properly.

At the same time though he didn't want his friend to panic and go into a tizzy although that seemed likely anyway. So in the end Harry only downplayed the frequency of the problems hoping the severity and the fact that they were reoccurring would get Hermione to help but not too much although he knew that was unlikely. It was only after Harry rewrote the letter so Hermione wouldn't see all the times he crossed things out with his pen that he realized another problem, Hedwig wasn't here. She was out hunting as owls do at night and wouldn't be back till the morning.

This meant Harry would need to wait for her to return and Harry had never been the most patient person when it came to just about anything. He wished he could just call Hermione but they never let him use the phone and it was past 4 in the morning so even if he snuck downstairs to do it Hermione likely wouldn't answer. Which meant Harry needed to wait and Harry had never been the most patient person in the world which meant he needed to find something to do.

He considered doing homework but as soon as the thought came to him he yawned, it seemed his body had made the decision on what he should do for him. A wave of fatigue washed over him as he moved back to his bed feeling exhausted. Nothing like the thought of homework to make one tired huh Harry thought. He laid back down and settled easily feeling strangely at peace maybe because he had written his thoughts down or because he hoped he had a solution to his problem. Either way the Boy-Who-Lived fell asleep rather quickly considering the horrible nightmare he woke from not half an hour earlier.

BANG! That was what Harry woke up to the next day his vision blurry without his glasses and strained under the bright light streaming into his room from the window. He bolted upright scrambling for his wand beside him on the bedside table only once he had it pointed at the door did he realize it closed.

There was no one coming for him he sagged in relief well he did for a moment before he heard shouting from downstairs. He strained to make out what was being said. He could instantly tell it was his Uncles deep voice raging about "Berger … no good ….Jew…Job." Harry stopped focusing on listening at that point it was obvious his uncle was just ranting again probably about a coworker of his.

Wait a second, a coworker that meant he was home from work, what time was it? Harry turned to the clock tried squinting at it before he gave up and grabbed his glasses trying again discovering it was 5:32.

"What the bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed

"I slept the whole day" he whispered

What is wrong with me he thought? I really must need help first I can't sleep at all now I sleep all day. I need help I need … "Hermione!" he said remembering his letter. He found it still on his desk already sealed and to his relief there was Hedwig his beautiful snowy owl resting in her open cage by the window he always left open at night and well apparently all day as well.

"Hey there girl good hunt last night?" he said stroking the owl getting some sort of bark in response that he could swear was a yes.

"Ha well I hope you have plenty of energy I need you to take this to Hermione for me as quick as you can. Then wait there for her to give you a letter back I really need her help Hed. Do you think you're up for it?" he questioned receiving another small bark and a little nip in response that he knew was some kind of insult for questioning her ability.

He sometimes wondered if everyone could understand their owls like he could his he never really asked although he had been told several time that familiar bonds were a thing. But no one went into detail on what they did and he had never had the time to look up how to tell if you had one or what it could do. Still he strongly suspected Hedwig was his familiar and he would have to figure out what that meant one day. For now though he was just happy he had a friend to keep him company even if he was sending her away to contact another friend of his, rather ironic that. To solve his problem and cure his loneliness he had to send away his only company, well the only company that mattered.

Harry finished contemplating all of this just as he finished securing the note to Hedwig.

"Have a safe journey girl I'll see you soon" he said patting Hedwig once more she chirped in response and took off into the late afternoon sky.

As Hedwig left Harry noticed the house had grown quieter there were still sounds of people moving and people talking or maybe the tv on. Yes that seemed likely when Vernon went into one of his rants he would drink, he would drink right in front of the tv all night till he either passed out there or stumbled upstairs to his room. Harry wasn't quite sure which would happen tonight nor did he really care all he knew was he needed to avoid his uncle.

Vernon might have steered clear of Harry the past few years but he still hated him and probably wanted to hurt in fact he was surprised when he got home this summer and Vernon didn't hurt him. He didn't complain or threaten Harry any more than usual nor mention the incident in which he turned that woman Marge into a balloon. It actually took Harry the better part of a day to realize all this, having not been in the best state of mind when he got off the train.

But when he did realize it he came to the conclusion the ministry hadn't just obliviated Marge and the neighbors but his 'family' too. Harry was immensely grateful for that even if it was unnecessary considering everyone but Marge knew about Magic. He supposed they must just try to keep Muggles from remembering specific incidents like that to keep them from panicking probably one of the smarter things the wizarding world decided.

Anyway a specific grudge against Harry for blowing up his sister or not Harry had no doubt Vernon still hated him. For one he always had even before that and for another the obliviation charm wasn't perfect, even on Muggles, it could remove memories without harming them but it left feelings or impressions the more important the memory was and worse the obliviator was. For wizards or even squibs the charm required more skill and power to work at all. Additionally most of the time a wizard and squibs magic would remove the foreign magic memory block eventually.

The whole of Hogwarts had been tutored on memory charm at the end of second year after Lockhart had removed all of his own memories. Professor Dumbledore had been forced to explain Lockhart's lies to the school as it was soon going to make it to the newspapers. So he had explained that much of Lockhart's memory was returning on its own rather quickly. This was because he had put a large block around all of his memories making it much more noticeable both to his own magic and to the mind healers assisting him in recovery.

He had also had to explain that Lockhart was a fraud that was actually only talented with telling lies, writing, and using memory charms. Apparently the man had attempted to be an auror long ago washed out but during training he discovered he was really, really good at the memory charm. So he had concocted a scheme, he would travel around as a 'hit wizard', that operated much like hedge knights or paramilitary mercenaries which meant they only worked for governments.

He would join small groups of skilled wizards in magical countries that were less organized and more medieval. Then they would go out and slay whatever problems plagued the wizarding towns in the equivalent of the wizard boonies and once they were done Lockhart would wipe his companion's minds of the incident usually while they slept and hopefully before they collected the reward. That way Lockhart got to keep all of the reward and the stories he would eventually turn into his book series. Of course the man didn't just steal stories from those he traveled with, sometimes he found a particularly brave individual that had done something while he wasn't there and well why not make that his own too. Of course he did that second one rarely as he couldn't know who had already been told those stories before he got there.

Truly Lockhart was as clever and ambitions a wizard as there ever was a true credit to Slytherin house Harry thought with a snort. The really interesting part about Lockhart's memory charm work though was that it seemed at first as though none of the charms he had cast had ever come undone. Harry had found out this past year in the newspaper that wasn't entirely true a few more powerful wizards had overcome Lockhart's spell on their own. But only a few and of those few it seemed spoke much English, Lockhart had thought ahead again as most of the Wizards he worked with spoke little English without a translation charm and thus never noticed the English only books Lockhart was selling with their stories in them. One man who both overcame Lockharts spell and spoke English actually came forward and admitted to taking a bribe from Lockhart to not say anything.

So while Lockhart was clearly a terrible fraud that was in prison now for both theft and assault Harry did have to respect the man's ability and wished he was the one who had removed his Uncle's memory. Since it more than likely wasn't him though Harry worried, he worried that the charm would come undone, extremely uncommon in muggles, or just that they missed something or that something lingered which was much more likely if they sent someone new or bad.

It didn't matter either way though if that came back tonight while drunk because it would suck for Harry no matter what if he saw Harry at all. In the past before Harry got his wand and discovered magic Harry had gotten more than a few bruises, a couple scars, and even a broken arm from his drunk uncle. That hadn't been the case after he came back with his wand Vernon was truly scared of what the thing might be able to do or even what Harry might do without it because the man really had no idea how magic worked. He just knew that Harry had done weird things without the wand who was to say if he could do more now or not.

Harry hadn't realized they, even Petunia, didn't seem to know he needed the wand to really do anything for a while and almost blew it on more than one occasion with his big mouth. But once he had realized he played it up for his own sake that they practiced magic without a wand which wasn't true till 7th year really. He even tried to learn some wandless magic just to sell it if he ever needed to.

He had practiced it mainly at Hogwarts but sometimes he would go on walks through the neighborhood, leaving his wand that carried the trace behind, trying to move rocks or spark a light with a snap. His success so far was barely anything, he had moved a few pencils a few inches at Hogwarts, managed to move flip a rock, and he thought he saw a spark from his fingertips once. Everything else he had done without a wand had been completely accidental so he kept his wand on him around Vernon just in case. Even though since he had discovered magic Vernon had thus far been too scared to physically attack Harry he had certainly seemed to come close several times and his yelling and rants were not fun to endure.

So Harry wouldn't be going downstairs tonight which meant he would need to go hungry, again! His stomach immediately protested the thought growling in agony he flopped back down onto his bed wondering what he should do. He looked to the window for a moment he considered if he could climb out and sneak away but he was on the second floor, there was no easy way down, and it was still light out so he was likely to be seen. He wondered if he could try sneaking downstairs and grabbing something from the kitchen but Petunia was bound to be right there cooking and bringing Vernon beer. Even if he wore his cloak Petunia would probably notice him and go off about 'stealing' which would then bring Vernon's wrath down upon him.

"Uuuugh" he sighed in resignation ready to give up only for his stomach to growl again forcing him to acknowledge its and thus his misery. He got up and started to pace while considering the problem for several minutes and had nearly decided he would just rush downstairs out the front door and run away before anyone could stop him. That would probably work but coming back he would have to deal with his angry relatives. Only that was when Harry realized something the front door wasn't the only door out.

The back door slide open into the backyard and garden surrounded by a high fence that did have a gate toward the street attached to it. The door was perfect it didn't open in direct view of the kitchen or the family room, unlike the front door, which meant if he was quiet and quick he could be in and out. Harry now had a way out and his mind was quick to make a plan on the fly as usual.

He grabbed a ratty old back pack of Dudley's and threw in his keys and some money, both muggle and wizard, and he put it on. He then opened his trunk and got out his cloak he threw the thing over himself then he grabbed his wand and as quietly as he could he opened his door and closed it behind him. He slowly and quietly made his way down the stairs then past the family room and an oblivious Vernon. Next he slipped past the opening to the kitchen and reached the end of the hall where the sliding door to the backyard was. As slowly and quietly as he could he inched the door open just enough for him to squeeze out then quickly closed it again. Just in time as it seemed he wasn't quite enough and Petunia's bird like face peeked around the corner to look at glass door. For a moment he was afraid he was seen as she looked right at him but then she shrugged and returned to the kitchen and Harry remembered he was under an invisibility cloak and felt like a moron.

Harry continued to sneak out the backyard through the gate and then towards the street. He kept his cloak on till he reached the top of the street he then looked all about and quickly tore off the cloak and shoved it into his bag as fast as he could. He looked about again and still seeing no one he smiled making his way toward a nearby shop for some food. If nothing else this has been a successful first time sneaking out Harry thought his stomach growling at him to hurry up.


	3. Chapter 3: Kid in a Candy Shop

The trip to the nearby sub shop was uneventful he passed a few people who barely gave him a glance and cars passed by with increasing frequency as he got near the part of Little Whinging with shops. He was nervous he would be recognized but he purchased his food without issue and he was pretty sure no one knew was the famous Boy-who-lived or as the wretched Potter boy that some of Petunia's friends used to gossip about when he was younger. He wondered if they would even recognize him, he looked different than when he was eleven the last time they had gathered at the Dursley's while Harry was there.

He was no longer a small weedy little child anyway. His time at Hogwarts, as dangerous as it had been, had done wonders for his nutrition and growth. He wasn't quite sure what the average height was for his age but he was fairly sure he must be around that by now. He could look most of his male peers in the eye without having to tilt his head and he had finally caught up to the girls his age. He had filled out some and wasn't going to be blown over by a stiff breeze thanks to Oliver's training.

He still worried though his face, messy hair, and scar all remained the same so he made sure to eat his food quickly and quietly in the corner of the shop and leave without so much as a word. It was only after leaving the shop that Harry realized he didn't want to return the Dursley's home yet. As scared as he felt about getting caught and what that might mean for him he hadn't enjoyed himself this much in weeks and he wasn't sure he could remember the last time he enjoyed himself at all in Surrey. He debated internally for a moment before he decided to risk being spotted by someone who would report back to the Dursleys.

Now he just needed to find something to do with himself so he stated walking through town passing shops and stores some closed for the night despite the sun still peaking over the horizon. Other places he passed just now seemed to be drawing crowds in a bar on one street and a theater on another but Harry had no interest in either he simply enjoyed walking about with no one staring at him and free of his 'families' presence.

He had hardly ever been into Little Whinging proper despite having lived here his whole life. He was only ever brought into town for school and when his aunt needed something from the store and she had no one to watch him and Dudley. Well mainly Dudley Harry was sure his aunt didn't care if or how long he was left alone as a child and the only reason she likely didn't constantly do it was because she was paranoid he would steal from them.

Although now that Harry thought about it he probably would've stolen from them as a child. Stolen food that is, they never feed him enough giving huge amounts of food to Dudley while leaving him with scraps. They had tried to do the same over the last two summers since he got magic and had largely succeeded although he had taken food several times at night when everyone else was asleep something he had been too scared to do before he knew he could fall on magic to defend himself now. It seemed now though if Harry could keep sneaking out he would never have to go another full day without food.

Just as Harry thought that he passed a small convenience store and a rather obvious thought occurred to him as he glanced into the window. He could also just get food now and not have to sneak out every time his relatives decided he wasn't worthy of 'their' food or his Uncle got drunk as hell which happened at least once a week. So Harry went inside and looked around then quickly realized he was rather stumped on what he should get. He hadn't gotten to try most store snacks like this at least not muggle ones and that thought gave him another idea. He would do the same thing he did on the Hogwarts express his first year with Ron he would buy the whole lot!

So Harry gathered several handfuls of different snacks and made several trips to the counter where a girl that looked a few years older than Harry stood with a bemused expression on her face each time he returned. It was on his fourth trip Harry decided he had enough and couldn't possibly fit anymore in his bag.

Harry looked up from his pile with a stupid grin on his face only to be met by the grin of the older slightly taller girl. She had nearly black hair, wore a nose ring, and seemed like she would be very pretty, well if it wasn't for the fact that the grin she had wasn't at all like his. He was grinning in excitement much like a child would be while getting a new toy.

She on the other hand, well her grin terrified him and reminded Harry a lot of Tom Riddle's grin right before he sicced the giant Basilisk on Harry. In other words it looked like she wanted to kill him and relished the thought, Harry just had no idea why. He didn't have time to wonder though before she made it clear.

"You gonna be able to pay for all that kid or am I gonna have to put it all back?" she said somehow happily and also threateningly.

Harry visibly cringed as he immediately realized he had messed up because while he had money it was probably not enough Muggle money for all this.

"Um um … shit I'm sorry I got excited and I just wanted to get a bunch …I didn't really think … um I'll put what I can't buy back please don't kick me out" he muttered out rather intimidated by this older punk girl.

He had been in life and death situations several times over the past few years and here he was acting awkward and nervous because he had embarrassed himself in front of a pretty older girl he didn't even know looked that like she wanted to kill him.

The girl rolled her eyes gave him a small glare that Harry knew meant she thought he was annoying or wasting her time. Then she sighed and said "I'm not going to kick you out just go put back what you can't buy first then I'll ring you up alright kid? Oh and relax what did you think I was kick your ass too?"

Harry smiled in relief at the girls change in attitude and said "Thank you um sorry again I'll just um do that then." He then grabbed as much of the pile as he could and started putting his snack back making sure to find the proper spot just in case the girl was watching. It took two trips this time for Harry to return most of the items leaving Harry with a much smaller pile that he could afford with his remaining 15 pounds. He anxiously approached the girl again hoping she would ring him up quickly so he could escape this awkward situation but she seemed to have other ideas.

"So what got you so excited you decided you need to buy half the store anyway?" she asked him while scanning the first of his items.

Harry immediately froze he had no idea what excuse to give but he definitely couldn't say because I won't be going hungry because of my relatives. He panicked and it must have shown on his face because the girl quirked an eyebrow while still scanning his items. Fortunately after several more awkward seconds he spit out the first thing that came to his head.

"A sleep over … um it's all for a sleep over me and a bunch of friends I'm in charge of snacks." he said trying to make it sound like it was an important job he was proud of.

Unfortunately she didn't seem to buy it "A sleep over? Really? You're what 13? 14?"

Harry wasn't quite sure what she meant asking his age was it weird to have sleep over at his age he didn't know he had never had one. Well he had stayed at Ron's but that wasn't really a party more like a refuge. Still he had dug his hole and here he would lay so he nodded and said "Yep a sleep over and almost 14 what does that got to do with anything?"

She rolled her eyes like that was obvious "No 'almost' 14 year old boy I know has slumber parties" she said derisively

It seemed Harry had been right this was unusual still he knew just what to say to the older girl. "You know a lot of 14 old boys miss? If so are they like friends or …?" He let that hang and smirked he seemed to have taken the upper hand.

The girl took only a moment to catch his meaning, a fellow teenager was quick to get an implication like that after all. As soon she did though well her scowl made Harry wonder if he really had the upper hand or if would need to go to another shop.

Then she smirked again, the scary kind, and said "Wouldn't you like to know kid. You ever been with a girl? No wait you ever even kissed one?" she leaned forward just enough to show off a bit of cleavage from her low cut shirt.

And just like that Harry was on the back foot again only now blushing enough that he could feel his ears burning. He quickly he tore his eyes away from the attractive sight in front of him causing the girl to chuckle and go back to scanning his snacks. He decided to keep quiet and maybe he could get out of this without any further development but it seemed the older girl wasn't done teasing him.

She took his silence as a no at laughed but it wasn't a cruel mocking laugh just a light one lasting only a second. Then she leaned down again even closer this time and whispered "I don't know a lot of 14 year olds boys kid, just the cute ones like you" then she had the nerve to actually wink at him before she righted herself.

Harry already couldn't blush any harder before that comment now he was just stunned. Here was a girl that seemed to be actively flirting, well teasing and flirting maybe he wasn't really sure, but he was sure this girl had no idea who he was so it felt kinda nice to be getting this sort of attention. Unfortunately his brain wasn't sure what to say in response to her comment a combination of being stunned by her words and the extremely generous view of her well-developed chest. Fortunately for him it seemed his mouth worked faster than his head and he found himself saying "Well I'm definitely not as cute as you."

The girl laughed again this time Harry found the light laugh beautiful and that it made the tough looking girl glow for a second. She then scanned his last item and said "Well you have some game kid I'll give you that and it's 14.22 by the way."

"Oh right here you go." He said awkwardly handing the money over

She counted out his change and returned it to him before asking "So you don't have to say but what did you really want half the food in here for anyway."

Harry chuckled and rubbed the back of his head "I guess a sleep over was a bit of a lame excuse huh?" the girl rolled her eyes playfully and smiled but said nothing.

"Well uh really my relatives just never really let me have candy and junk food and I figured now that I've got some money I could you know…" he said trailing off of his half truth

Fortunately for him the girl nodded as if she understood then said "So you thought now that you had money you could buy a bunch of stuff without them knowing and try everything at once huh?"

"Um yeah … yeah that's pretty much it" Harry said lamely turning his head away to hide his blush and lie.

The girl giggled this time, actually giggled, "Well kid you'll have to remember to bring more money next time and I hope there is a next because I wasn't lying when I said you were cute." She said smirk

She laughed once again as his blush rose up to his ears. Then he said "Neither was I and uh it's Harry not kid" he finished confidently saved by his quick mouth once again making him think it might be good for something other than getting him in trouble.

The girl smirked and replied "Nice to meet you Harry I'm Becca not Rebecca and definitely not Beccy. It's Becca got it?" she finished sternly looking him right in the eyes.

Harry blinked a little thrown off by the sudden fierceness that had returned to the girl so he simply nodded in return and was happy when her fierce glare was replaced by a much more pleasant grin.

"I'll remember for next time Becca" he said just as he finished putting his dozen or so snacks in his backpack.

"Good you never know maybe if you do you might be able to say you have kissed a girl sometime soon Harry" she replied with another flirty wink.

Harry blushed but not nearly as hard this time growing used to Becca's blatant flirting before he said "I uh … I thought you were joking shouldn't you be more interested in guys your own age?"

She grinned again and this time looked like she had just caught dinner before she said "And just how old do you think I am anyway?"

"Uh … Um… You know um…" Harry sputtered not sure at all how to reply. Where was that quick mouth now he wondered?

Becca laughed though harder than she had before and Harry found he really did love that sound but it also made him realize something.

"That was a trap wasn't it? There was no right answer" he said glumly

"Ha I wouldn't say there was no right answer but I suppose it was a bit of a trap I definitely don't look my age got these to thank for it I guess." She said gesturing to her rather developed chest

Harry blushed again not sure how to respond.

"I'll let you off the hook though I'm actually not that much older than you just turned 15 two weeks ago" she replied with a smirk.

Harry blinked as he realized what that meant "Wait that does mean you know a lot of 14 year old boys, you go to school with them don't you?"

"Actually no, I go to an all-girls school so I was serious when I said I only really know the cute ones. Those are the only one I bother to remember like Sam, Davis, and soon enough Harry"

"Oh um … well you really don't look 15?" Harry said trying to change the topic to hide his growing discomfort from being flirted with so seriously.

"Yeah I know like I said I developed early and while I love teasing cute guys like you it does have the downside making a lot of older creeps look at me" she said with a grimace perhaps remembering some of those incidents.

"Sorry about that I know what it's like to have people stare at you when you don't want them to…um you really are pretty though."

"Thanks Harry but what exactly are people staring at you for?"

"Um well it's not really because of my looks obviously but people at my school stare at me for something I've done that gave me this" Harry said moving his hair aside to reveal his scar.

"Woah wicked there must be quiet the story behind that if they are staring at you all the time huh?" she prodded lightly

"Ya um I don't really want to go into detail because it kind of hurts to remember but I um saved someone in order to get it and lost someone to get." Harry lied on the spot figuring that as believable as he could get to the truth for a random muggle girl pretty or not.

"Oh um ya I get why you wouldn't want to be stared at for that I guess." Becca replied awkwardly for first time she seemed unsure of herself. But only for a moment before she said "It really does make you look even better though Harry gives you a bit of an edge. You sure the girls aren't all staring at you because they are in love?" then she made a kissy face

Harry laughed then said "Maybe so but I doubt it I'm just me with a weird scar after all."

"So you mean you're a fit guy with a wicked scar and humility to boot ya I'm convinced now you really must have all the girls swooning."

"I uh don't know about that Becca but I appreciate your vote of confidence."

"Oh that's not my vote of confidence this is" then she did what Harry least expected although maybe he should've. She leaned all the way across the small counter grabbed him by the shirt pulled him in and kissed him square on the lips.

For Harry it was completely surreal a pretty older girl he had just met was kissing him and he had absolutely no idea what to do. Fortunately for him it only lasted a moment and was brief enough that he had no time to panic or mess up. She pulled away and smirked "There you go Harry hopefully now you will believe me when I say you are very very cute and you can say you've kissed a girl" she said.

"I um …um… I mean wow that was wicked" he finally got out a big dopey grin on his face.

"Thank you, you weren't so bad yourself by the way but you should probably go now I need to start closing up."

Harry looked out the window and realized it gotten dark "Oh um right I'll see again right?"

"Yep I'm here most afternoons this summer but next time try to bring more money if you're going to buy half the store though huh?"

"Ya right sorry can do." Harry replied a bit embarrassed still about that

She laughed and waved as he reached the door "Bye Harry"

"Bye Becca" he said waving back then stepped out onto the sidewalk looked up at twilight sky for just a moment before reality finally hit and he realized all that really just happened. He had just gotten his first kiss from a very pretty older girl! He let out a whop and fist pumped then realized he was still standing right in front of the store. He turned around and could see Becca smirking and waving at him from the counter. Embarrassed but too happy to care he waved back and set off toward the Dursley's home. This was something that would usually immediately sour his mood but tonight his was riding high.

He snuck back into the house and up to his room as easily as he slipped out. He came in through the backyard with his cloak on and walked right past the living room where his Uncle was still nursing a beer and watching the tele. His aunt and cousin were nowhere in sight liking in their rooms also avoiding Vernon's foul mood not that Harry had ever seen him hurt either of them but when he was drunk he would yell at anyone if he thought he had a good enough reason.

Harry reached his room without incident though and quickly hid his snacks and candy in his trunk since it was warded to only let Harry in something he had invested his first year when the salesman had explained how it would protect his possessions at Hogwarts. Well Harry had never been worried about his stuff at Hogwarts but here he was always concerned about it when he wasn't in his room. His stuff easily fit in the expanded trunk which was three times as large on the inside as outside.

When he had been told trunks could be expanded and that there were even rooms in some he had been very willing to buy one of those until it had been explained they were extremely difficult to make and thus very few existed, usually broke within years, and were absurdly expensive. Apparently the more magic warped space the less stable it was and it would eventually expel the contents of the trunk and revert to its original dimensions or blow up. So Harry settled for a very stable trunk that would last much longer and didn't have the potential to blow up.

After he finished putting his things away he checked his desk hoping Hedwig had returned with a message from Hermione only to be disappointed to find both the desk and her cage still empty. He wondered what was taking her so long she as usually so prompt with her letters and Harry knew she lived nearby somewhere in London. If Hedwig didn't return soon he would have to sleep again and possibly face the nightmare again. Or maybe he would finally dream about something else like kissing a pretty girl he thought optimistically. He still couldn't believe that all that had actually happened it was so strange and nice both the encounter and the kiss itself.

He went over everything in his head again from how Becca had started out so annoyed with him then quickly switched to flirty and teasing. She probably hadn't planned to kiss him he realized she probably figured she would tease him for irritating her but it hadn't gone like that had it. Instead somewhere along the way he had actually managed to impressive her enough to get a kiss.

Right after he told her about how he got his scar which meant that … that he had gotten his first kiss for a reason he always feared after all, because of what he did as a baby and not who he was. He groaned in realization and his mood soured he couldn't believe he let this happen after fearing a girl at Hogwarts would do the same and now a random muggle girl takes his first kiss for the same reason.

He stared up at the ceiling wondering if that was it. The only other reason she had said she had given the kiss was she thought he was cute and that other girls would be all over him soon. Harry wasn't sure he really believed if she actually thought he was cute now. He was so skinny and not much to look at he thought to himself. Maybe she actually kissed him out of pity figuring he needed it and that his poor attempts at flirty would be improved if she kissed him and improved his confidence. But if she kissed him out of pity how was that supposed to improve his confidence? As for if girls would soon be all over him well she probably wasn't totally off about that it was just that he would likely only have them wanting him for his fame and family wealth. A thought he loathed and he hoped to avoid all of those types of girls the best he could but now it seemed one impressed by his supposed heroics had already beaten him where he least expected it back in Little Whinging.


	4. Chapter 4: Demons

**A/N: This chapter may disturb or trigger some read at your own risk. **

* * *

Harry woke cold, wet, and terrified with the nightmare once again fresh in his mind. As well as the look on Sirius' face as he lay lifeless on the ground a demon hovering above him and disturbing smile on its ever changing face. Harry wasn't sobbing this time but the more he thought about the night the harder he found it to breathe. All of the sudden he was no longer cold but burning and nauseous yet he still couldn't stop thinking of that scene.

His body moved without a conscious thought from him as he threw off his sheets rushed out of his room to the toilet down the hall. He reached it just in time expelling much on the undigested remains of his dinner. He coughed and groaned once he finished and finally his breathing began to return to normal. That scene he was stuck on faded until all that remained was the grotesque smile of the dementor savoring its meal. Harry shuddered and whimpered on the floor for what was likely minutes but to him it could have been hours as he let the darkness swallow him up.

Eventually though he calmed down dried his tears and flushed his waste then cleaned himself both of sweat and vomit before returning to his room. He switched on a small lamp in the room and a glance at his clock showed the time to be half past three but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, not again anyway. Every time he blinked or closed his eyes in any way he swore he could see that smile. He shook his head trying to get it to go away but to no avail, he needed a distraction anything to help him.

Hedwig perhaps, but it barely took a glance to realize she still wasn't there and it seemed she hadn't come back yet by the lack of mail from Hermione or anyone else. What could be taking so long, was Hermione traveling maybe? Harry knew she did every summer with her … her parents. Something Harry had been jealous of in the past not because she got to travel but because she clearly had people who cared about her.

People Harry just didn't have because the closest had been Sirius and he was… he was… he was gone! Taken before his very eyes by that monster, that demon, that Freak! Harry was up and pacing now anger rolling off him and his light flickered as his magic flexed in response. That dementor was dead, Harry knew that but it wasn't enough he wanted to destroy the entire bloody race of demons.

He wished he could too but Dumbledore had explained that the golden patronus that had appeared that night was unlikely to ever appear for him ever again. Apparently it was quite rare because it took both a great deal of magic to summon and more importantly the right or "wrong" circumstances as the old man had put it. He had explained the golden patronus was known as the avenging patronus because that is the only time it appeared. When a witch or wizard was able to channel an extraordinarily high amount of magic also lost a loved one or loved ones they were able to cast the spell to avenge their loved ones. The most famous and one of the earliest examples of the phenomenon was by Kamil Zuzanna a polish wizard that lived in the 5th century.

His tale was a legend at this point and was likely embellished but what is known is he came home from a trip of a couple days selling goods in a nearby muggle town, in a time before apparition and portkeys. He found his entire family dead and much of his house in ruins. It wasn't hard for the skilled wizard to figure out a horde of dementors had done it because their foul magic had seeped into the corpses of his loved ones. Immediately the wizard set out to destroy the demons that had harmed his family but tracking and following them was difficult.

There wasn't then and still isn't now a spell to locate dementors or any other demons, one can only follow the trail of disgusting magic that lingered in their wake and hope they didn't rise high enough or cross water that might cause the trail to go cold much like a dog followed a scent. Kamil tracked them for three days in a blind rage not stopping to sleep, eat, or drink according to the legend.

Somehow as he neared the horde he attracted the attention of a couple of bounty hunter wizards attempting to kill a Fleder reported in the area. They followed him into the cave of the mountain he had tracked the horde to and were shocked not only to find the man battling dementors but attempting the use the killing curse and a whole range of other deadly curses on the demons. None worked just like they hadn't in the past but the force of Kamil's magic damaged them and kept them at bay.

They watched with awe as he tried to destroy the horde that numbered as low as 20 in some accounts and as high as 100 in others. Still the two bounty hunters were shocked that someone was fighting them the old way used before the patronus charm was invented. He used deadly magic, runes, and wards that caused the demons to flee to nurse their wounds. Still Kamil's strength clearly began to wane as the battle grew longer and longer because this method was inefficient and the demons of course wouldn't fall. Eventually his strength seemed to give out and his wards fell, then runes on his skin started to lose their glow before going out, and finally the last of his strength seemed to leave him before his casting stopped.

As the horde of dementors attempted to swoop in and end this annoyance the story goes that something so dumb it seemed straight out of movie occurred as Kamil rose his wand one last time and called out the famous charm likely so he could retreat. Instead out of his wand rose not a silver but a golden hawk of enormous size that began to cut through the entire horde until there was nothing but dust and the tattered remains of cloaks left behind.

Dumbledore had said there had been several other dozen stories across the wizarding world of golden patronuses being summoned to avenge loved ones since the charm had been created by the Roman magicians of the 3rd century that had to constantly fight the demons because of the chaos. The lesson of the story though had not yet been explained and Dumbledore went on that after that encounter apparently Kamil had collapsed from exhaustion from defeating the horde and was taken by the bounty hunters back to the lodge the hunters in the region worked out of.

He recovered after a few days from the experience and by that point the entire hall knew what he had accomplished and after getting a few drinks in him he explained why he did it to the gathered hunters. Dumbledore explained the phenomenon Harry and Kamil had performed was unknown even in the more connected wizarding world today much less back then so no one in the hall knew its limits. So when Kamil was good and drunk he proclaimed he would travel and rid the world of the demons something that was likely met with great cheers. The next morning he set out to fulfill his drunken promise this time aided by the two hunters that brought him in.

They had to travel for nearly a month to find another smaller horde located in a dark forest to the south. This time Kamil didn't bother to rampage he instead went straight to the patronus expecting the golden avenger to slay the beasts instead all he got was his silver one. His patronus was indeed still powerful but it could only harm and scar the demons never maim or kill them. Kamil and his companions had to follow the horde to try again only to fail again, they followed and tried again, and again, and again. He tried so many times that day only to keep driving the creatures off with minor wounds and their own version of fear.

He couldn't repeat his success not that day or any other in the future and tried for the rest of his life. For nearly 10 years he would experiment with the spell then chase down a horde in an effort to slay it only to drive it into hiding. Eventually he became obsessed and likely went mad from failure his hair turned solid white in only his early 30's and he stopped speaking for the most part expect in grunt. It isn't known what his theory during his last attempt was only that it partially succeeded.

He went alone to slay another horde that had recently moved into the ruins of a castle near a small village. The villagers said they heard the battle he waged all through the day then at dusk they heard a crack louder than any thunder clap and suddenly the entire castle ruins seemed to collapse to the villagers with what little light they had left. They waited till morning to investigate and well they didn't have to go far to see what had happened, the castle that had laid on a distant hill within sight of the village was gone. Several braver villagers approached the site through woods and up the hill and when they arrived they found nothing. Not a single stone from the castle seemed to remain, in its place was only a crater that neither smoked nor burned. There was never any sign of Kamil or that horde of dementors ever again.

Through the years the few that knew the story speculated on what had happened. Had Kamil somehow created a rudimentary early form of apparition or portkey that went horribly wrong? Had he called upon magic, runes, and wards so dark or volatile that the entire site had simply been destroyed? Had he summoned the golden patronus again only to pay extremely dearly? There was no answer only speculation now as there had been then for those that knew Kamil or followed his work. Dumbledore told him like Kamil others had also tried to repeat the charm in the past and as far as he knew none had ever succeeded and some had paid as dearly as Kamil.

Harry of course understood that he was being warned not to do the same but even still he had tried anyway. Nearly as soon as he left the hospital wing and was alone he made a beeline for one of the many empty classrooms students were encouraged to practice spells in. He like many before him failed to summon the golden avenger he was only met by his silver grimm, padfoot.

Harry shook his head and paused his pacing for a moment as his distracted thoughts once again were focused on Sirius which inevitably lead him to think about his dream and his failure. He had failed to protect his godfather the only person he could remember that seemed to love him unconditionally. Sure his friends, the Weasley's, even Remus were nice enough but they weren't family, not really, no matter how much they might say they were. Harry felt they might abandon him if it ever got to be too much for them and he couldn't really blame them his life was clearly a mess.

At this point he half expected Hermione to never respond to his letter because she had decided it would logically be safer and easier for her not to talk to him again. Ron as loyal as the boy had been in years past was also kind of dumb, if Harry was honest, and quite judgmental too so he was sure the boy would get into an argument sooner or later that ruin everything. As for Remus well the man had already ditched him once who was to say that he wouldn't again. Harry could feel it now the inevitable truth now that he would be a pitiable orphan that would die sooner rather than later alone.

Hell just yesterday had shown him even random strangers pitied him when they didn't even know his entire story. Becca clearly knew he was weird loser that had no friends to have a sleep over with from the very start. She had taken pity on him that the only logically explanation for kissing a complete stranger anyway. Harry appreciated the kindness though, just like he appreciated the kindness and help that Hermione, Ron, Remus, and all of his other friends and professors had given him over the years.

Clearly they had done it out of pity too feeling bad for the poor orphan that weighed them all down and put them all in danger. He realized then that his relatives were right he had always been a good for nothing burden not just on them but everyone he ever met. Was he a burden on his parents too? Was he why they had been killed? Was that his fault too? Had he gotten his entire family killed? Who would he get killed next, Ron, Remus Hermione?

No, no he couldn't let that happen he needed to go, go away from everyone so that whatever curse was obviously on him wouldn't get anyone else hurt. So that he wouldn't be a burden on anyone ever again. That was when Harry had an idea one that caused him to pause in his pacing again. He forced the thought out but it came back just as quickly and he began to weigh it more seriously the pros and cons.

A voice whispered it would solve all his problems, everyone's problems really. The world would be a better place if he did it the voice whispered and his hand slowly picked up his wand on the table. All it would take was an overpowered cutting or blasting curse to do the job. No that would hurt and he wasn't sure what would happened if he was off target, maybe another then something darker perhaps. He certainly knew the words they had echoed in his head all year every time a dementor got too close. It wasn't like he could get in trouble the voice said as he raised his wand and pointed it at his head. Harry paused staring out the window of his barely lit room hoping for a sign anything that he shouldn't. A moment passed then another and nothing came no sign or indication that this was a mistake.

"Ava…Avada…" his breathing became rapid and his arm shook but he pressed on.

"Avada …Ked..da..da…da" his arm fell away and he sank to his knees shaking and sobbing for a moment before he raised it once again determined.

"Avada … Avada Kedavra" he intoned with a barely audible whisper at last before his vision flashed green then the whole world fell to darkness.

He wasn't sure how long he felt nothing just nothing or maybe like he was asleep without a dream. That was until he noticed the darkness was warm and it was like he was floating on an ocean or river he could neither see nor hear. He stayed that way for a long time he thought until something seemed to hold him tight and he could swear was rocking him back and forth.

Then he heard something soft and beautiful but indistinct it took ages for him to make out the noise only to realize it was singing. The voice was high and light but the words were incomprehensible for another few moments before he began to make them out.

"lights …out …sunsets in west, then the stars will rise in the east. Sleep now my child as darkness falls and the monsters begin to roam the land. You will wake in the morn, safe and sound as the Sun drives the night away. Worry not my dear you shall see another happy day on the morrow full of much cheer. So sleep now my darling as the lights go out, the sunsets in the west, and the stars rise in the east. Everything will begin anew at dawn I swear, so please sleep in happy peace."

Harry almost did just as the song bid him to for a moment. He almost let the warm rocking embrace swallow him so he could wonder back into the peaceful slumber he had been in, but the voice. The voice was so distinctive, so beautiful, and he could swear he had heard it before. He forced his eyes open and was greeted by a veil of red, a dazzling smile, and eyes he would recognize anywhere. They were green nearly all around expect for the smallest hints of gold that made them appear almost glowing. He saw those same intense and powerful eyes every time he looked in the mirror which meant…

"Mom?" he questioned

"Hello dear" she said quietly her eyes never leaving his own as they both froze there for a moment. Then all at once Harry was moving from his head on her lap to suddenly enveloping her in a hug which she returned and they held each other ferociously tight.

Harry began to sob and shake his entire body felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he felt everything would be alright. He no longer had to worry about being alone or hurting anyone ever again he could stay here in this moment forever. He knew just knew his father and Sirius were here as well and they could stay together, be a family together. He would finally have what he always wanted and he could be happy and at peace.

Then he fell right through his Mother onto his face. He spun around quicker than he ever had in his life to find her looking down at her hands that much like a ghost's were becoming more and more see through.

"It seems I have to go back alone Harry" she said

"What! No I…I.." he sputtered out unsure what to say

"It's all right dear I know you want to come with me. It's not your time baby I'll be waiting here for you when it is" she said trying to place her hand on his cheek. Harry could feel some of her warmth seep through but her touch was so strange.

"I can't … I can't go back. Please … I'm a curse… please let me stay" Harry managed to reply.

"Oh …Harry…My sweet Harry you're no curse please if you don't remember anything else from this please try to remember you are not a curse" she said while managing to wipe away one of his tears.

"I won't …I won't remember?" he choked out

"No …no probably not most of it. Just know you're not a curse Harry James Potter and that your mother loves you." She then raised her head a little and kissed his forehead before vanishing into the very air as if she had never been there at all.

Harry collapsed to his knees and cried. He was alone again in the darkness with nothing around and nowhere to go and then all of a sudden he wasn't. Through his shut and tear filled eyes he could sense light all around. Opening them and removing the tears allowed his vision to come into focus on a strange sight. He was at Kings Cross but it was almost all white or grey and the station stretched both left and right along the tracks as far as his eyes could see. At first he could swear he was alone. He couldn't spot anyone or anything as he looked around wildly but suddenly in the corner of his vision directly across from him something appeared.

It was a man, or he thought it was he seemed to be dressed in an elegant suit all black even the under shirt. It was the face though that was particularly strange Harry had seen a face like it before wrapped in shadows and ever changing. But instead of hateful and grotesque faces he just kept seeing faces full of sadness that lingered and haunted him. The worst part was what didn't change though, it wasn't the mouth but the eyes that remained locked onto his own, they were green and dead almost like he was looking into his own dead eyes.

Harry almost spoke, not even sure what he was going to say but he was about to say something when he noticed a small bundle by the man. It lay on the ground seemingly trying to move but barely wiggling. Harry couldn't tell what it was and he didn't get any longer to look as suddenly two trains from opposite directions pulled in and blocked his view. The trains came to a stop loudly after a minute and the doors popped open. Harry could see through the window the strange man seemed to lift the bundle and board the train on his side of the tracks.

The trains whistle blew and harry moved forward without his own command. The only thing he could control were his eyes which he used to watch the strange man through the windows as he causally take a seat in one of the chairs facing Harry. The man continued to stare as Harry took his own seat against his will, he continued to stare as the whistles blew again, and he continued to stare as the trains began to move in opposite directions. Harry was certain the man continued to stare at him even once Harry thought he was long out of sight because he could still feel deaths eyes watching him.

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**A/N: I have a workable idea on what to do about Harry using magic with the trace when he wakes up so no need to worry about that being a plot hole. I was reluctant to actually have him use magic to off himself at first and considered delaying it for later. But the problem it creates I think is outweighed by how badly Harry is hurting and this was the best way to show that I think. I'm not making light of suicide at all though and if you feel you are considering it I suggest you contact ****1-800-273-8255 if you are in the U.S. or seek** **professional medical help. **


	5. Chapter 5: Sweeping it Under the Rug

**A/N: So not totally satisfied with this chapter it took longer than I wanted even though it is longer in length than usual but I feel like I didn't get very far story wise. I also think I'm adding to much world building per chapter let me know if you guys enjoy it or think it should be spread out more. **

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Harry gasped upon waking on the carpeted ground of his room his breathing was extremely fast and his thoughts erratic. The room was still dimly lit only by his lamp and his eyes struggled to adjust as well as the room seemed to spin. He tried to rise only to reach his knees and to lose his balance then fall to his side. He paused to catch his breath and tried again this time he successfully reached his feet and adjusted his glasses into place properly but the world was still blurry.

He removed his glasses and rubbed his aching eyes but when he open them again the world remained fuzzy. Confused he took them off thinking perhaps the lenses had fallen out, it was strange though on multiple occasions one side or the other had fallen out of the old pair but he couldn't remember both ever falling out at the same time. So when he saw that the lenses were in fact in the glasses he was both unsurprised and surprised.

Harry was unsurprised because it was so rare for the lenses to fall out now that he had started repairing and adjusting the pair with magic at school. What surprised him though was how easily he could tell the lenses were in. He had thought that he would have to squint to be able to make it out but nearly as soon as he pulled the glasses away from his face they came into focus.

In fact everything came into focus, the glasses themselves, the hand holding them, the desk behind them, and as he looked around in awe he realized the whole room wasn't fuzzy. He rushed for the light switch and amazingly didn't trip in his mad dash to turn it on. As the room flooded with soft light from the ceiling he dropped his glasses on the ground in shock. The room now bathed in light was perfectly clear he had to be dreaming…

Dreaming… he had been on the ground when he woke up just now. Memories roared back to him and elation from his now seemingly perfect vision was replaced with horror at what he had tried to do. No … no at what he had done he was sure he had cast the spell then there had been a green flash and then nothing… Until there was singing… maybe… then his mom… maybe… He knew it was a woman at least and she said … she said … she said he wasn't a curse. Yes that was it! … Expect that didn't make any sense he couldn't have met his mother she was …she was dead. It was so vivid though so real… the parts he could remember were anyway but he couldn't remember most of it. Did that mean it was a dream? Had he miscast the spell and hallucinated or dreamed it? But then why could he see perfectly now…unless he actually was still dreaming or … dead.

He slapped himself hard in a moment of panic and the sound was like a thunder clap and his face burned. It certainly didn't feel like he was dead or dreaming as he winced in pain. He needed to be sure though so he checked the clock it was 3:52. He closed his eyes and counted to ten then checked it again it was still 3:52 which meant he was awake if Trelawney's lessons on lucid dreaming were worth anything.

As soon as Harry thought that he reconsidered if this method actually worked or not but the burning pain of his cheek was good enough confirmation for him. That meant he was awake and he didn't seem to hallucinating just somehow for the first time he could remember he could see perfectly like his mother instead of father.

His mother, the dream, the spell had it been real? Had he died by shooting himself in the head with the killing curse? He started pacing again an action that both helped him think and now reminded him of earlier. How he paced his room in panic after his dream and wallowed in grief and doubt unable to stand that he was a failure and a burden. Most importantly how he was a curse that plagued the world around him. Another voice rang in his head at the thought and he swear he heard a woman say "You are not a curse".

As quick as snake he spun on his heel looking for the source of the voice only to be met by the empty window. He shook his head and tried to refocus on what happened after that and he was more and more certain he had convinced himself that he had to do it and …and he still sort of agreed that he should do it. Again he heard a woman say "You are not a curse" only softer and again he whipped around violently looking for the source to no avail. Clearly he had actually lost his mind and was hallucinating now. He could somehow see clearly was hearing a woman telling him he wasn't a curse something he wasn't sure he could agree with. At that thought he could swear he heard the voice again almost a quiet echo this time causing him to freeze up.

After a moment though he decided to ignore it and press on as he tried to make sense of it all. He needed to lay out the facts

1\. He had definitely decided to kill himself.

2\. He had definitely cast the killing curse to do it.

3\. He seen something while he was either asleep or dead that mainly involved a woman resembling his mother.

4\. He had somehow survived the killing curse again.

5\. His vision was now perfect fine and he was hearing voices or well a woman's voice.

He felt very Hermione-esque thinking of it this way which caused him to frown wondering what she would think of all this. Would she be happy to be rid of him like he thought not twenty minutes ago or would she being trying to kill him herself for doing this? Harry wasn't sure but what he was sure of was that his biggest problem was number 4. How had he survived the curse? Was he actually immune to it?

That seemed unlikely even Dumbledore seemed certain when he had asked him that surviving was a one-time deal the way he had. Especially since that first curse seemed to have rebounded back at Voldemort unlike the one he had cast on himself. Had he cast it wrong or not with the right emotions? That also seemed unlikely he could swear now that he remembered the world fading to black, in other words he could swear he had actually died at least for a moment. Which meant that for some reason he had been sent back … and that was when another memory hit him a pair of eyes that stared at him nearly identical to his own and his mother's but lifeless and dull.

Someone or something else had been in whatever version of limbo Harry now was sure he had entered, which meant … it meant …he had met something on the other side an angel, a god, or another demon possibly which was a terrifying thought. Had it been what sent him back? Would it do it again? Was Harry immortal for some reason?

That caused Harry to chuckle which sounded strange to himself in the silence of the room but if he was immortal then he had one upped Voldemort it seemed. The dark lord had tried at least twice that Harry knew of too return to the world of the living and Harry had returned when he wanted to die. The thought was so ironic it was funny and his chuckle turned to a full blown laugh after a moment as he savored another victory over the dark lord.

It took him a moment to recompose himself again and he wondered if it was actually a victory if he couldn't die. Didn't he want to? Again he heard a distant voice but this time he simply ignored it and spied his fallen wand on the ground nearby. He picked it up and wondered if should try again maybe with another spell this time. The voice rang louder in his head. He contemplated what spell to use he was certain now that even if his hand shook and he missed an overpowered blasting curse at point blank range should take out a good chunk of his head.

The voice screamed out now reminding him continuously he was not a curse. Harry couldn't ignore it now not when it was as loud as his own thoughts or perhaps was a thought of his own as loud as his conscious ones. It didn't matter, what did was that the message caused him to hesitate, what if he wasn't a curse on his friends and everyone he knew? Did that mean he didn't need to die?

Harry didn't know and he began to sob wondering just what he was worth if anything at all to the world and those he cared for. It was at that moment Harry knew he couldn't do it, not now anyway. He wasn't sure if that made him brave or a coward to back off of his idea but it seemed there would be no second attempt tonight and he would just have to wonder if he was somehow immortal even if he certainly didn't feel it at the moment.

It took him several minutes to stop sobbing but once he did he realized he had a new problem he had cast a spell. He had cast a spell with his wand which meant the ministry's trace had to have picked it up. Harry was actually pretty sure he knew more about the trace than most wizards his age. He had been accused of using magic underage twice before now once because of Dobby and the other time because his accidental magic had blown up his "aunt" Marge. The first time Harry had found an owl waiting in his room informing him that magic had been registered in the presence of his wand and an auror team would investigate shortly.

The next day, thankfully while his relatives were out, they had come and he had explained the rogue elf's meddling. The aurors had used a spell to check for traces of elf magic and checked his wand's most recent three spells, the extent of the prior incanto's ability. While the reverse spell had shown he had cast wingardium leviosa among his last three spell it wasn't his most recent and when the aurors found traces of elf magic they decided to give him the benefit of the doubt on the issue. They gave him a strict but unofficial warning and said it would be removed from his record.

With Marge the situation was quite different because it had been Harry's magic that caused Marge to blow up but it was accidental. Plus Harry hadn't stuck around long enough for an owl to arrive that night instead he bolted with his stuff fearing his uncles wrath. Unbeknownst to him aurors were on the scene less than a minute later not looking for a student accidentally revealing magic but the boy-who-lived battling an escaped convict. Sirius had escaped very recently and when the trace went off for Harry's residence in Little Whinging so they had assumed the man had come for revenge and Harry was trying to defend himself.

Of course once they figured out what had really happened they had to fix Marge then apparently quickly blocked the memories of the event for any muggles they found including his relatives. By then Harry was already holed up in the Leaky Cauldron not knowing what to do so he slept. The next morning the aurors worked out where he was and Minister Fudge personally came to see him to ensure the story the aurors got was correct and that Harry hadn't died because of his negligence. They discussed what happened and an auror checked his wand again but Fudge didn't even give him a warning about not using magic that time only to keep his wand close and his eyes opened because a murderer was on the loose and might be after him. While the incident had been completely unrelated it seemed Fudge had gotten it stuck in his head that Sirius would target Harry and that he should have Harry guarded otherwise he was gonna be blamed for the boy-who-lived's death.

These two close brushes with the law caused Harry to grow curious about the reverse charm and the trace. He began to wonder how the trace worked and why it registered Dobby's magic as a usage. So he did some research which Hermione with a bit, ok a lot, and now knew the trace was actually an acronym that stood for, tracking random adolescent caused exposures.

In other words the purpose of the trace was to monitor for when an underage wizard revealed magic either on purpose or by accident. Apparently it was applied on every legally sold wand in Britain and many other countries then broke if a wand recognized its owner to be 17 or older. Those who made wands were extremely low in number because of its difficulty so monitoring who sold them and making sure they implemented the trace long before they were sold was easy.

The trace itself apparently only had two features it could track when and where a blip was detected around a traced wand. In the past attempts had been made to improve the charm but had all been met in failure. This allowed purebloods and half-bloods living in their world to ignore it at home if their parents did but while out in public wizarding areas they refrained from casting in fear they would be spotted, primarily by an auror. While muggleborns couldn't risk using magic around muggles anyway because of the danger it would put them and their world in, something that annoyed Hermione but she could do nothing about the unfairness of it. Essentially though anyone with the trace could theoretically cast in a known wizarding area and it would be ignored as being caused by an adult.

Of course that didn't matter at the moment since Harry had cast the spell with his wand which was going to show up as the killing curse when the aurors came around to scan his wand. He was mildly surprised he hadn't received a letter yet from the office of Improper use of Magic. It was just barely 4 am though so everyone was probably just home asleep. This meant he had till at earliest 6 or 7 till the notice was spotted that magic had been used here.

Harry knew he couldn't be caught with the killing curse on his wand. He knew it was called an unforgivable for a reason and that was because it got you sent straight to Azkaban. He wasn't sure if it mattered who or what he had used it on but it would certainly raise those questions. What was he supposed to say 'I tried to off myself using the spell I heard Voldemort use on me as a baby.' That wouldn't go over well he figured at best they would just let him go but it would end up in the papers but at worst they would lock him up either in Azkaban or elsewhere. He wasn't quite sure how the wizarding world dealt with suicidal people, he knew muggles went to shrinks and got meds. It seemed unlikely that magical world did the same, they rarely did, but Harry didn't know if it would different good or different bad and he didn't want to chance it.

He needed a way to fix this which meant he was going to need to cast at least three more times to get the spell off his wand. Hell he might need to cast extra just to make sure in case there wasn't some other spell, but what to do. So he did what he had done a lot recently and paced to think.

Eventually a plan came to him that he could fly or take the knight bus to the leaky, because taking either didn't registered on the trace at all. Once there he could cast under his cloak and then return here. It seemed like it could work the only problem was that still meant he was likely going to get into trouble for casting for real this time. He doubted they would believe him if he said it was accidental magic without any proof and there was no elf magic to back up throwing the blame toward Dobby or some other elf which he wasn't sure he wanted to do anyway. No he was just gonna have to lie and say it slipped his mind or something hopefully they would let him off with a real warning and leave it at that.

Harry decided it would be best not to be seen at all so he threw on his cloak and dug his broom out of his trunk. Riding the broom under the cloak was difficult because he had to constantly adjust the hood and cloak with one hand to keep as much of himself and the broom invisible as possible in the flapping wind while steering with the other hand. It was slow going and he was nervous as hell but eventually after nearly 30 minutes he made it to the Leaky where he realized another problem going inside was going to reveal he was there. He couldn't think of another way in though, he was sure there must be other entrances to the alley in general but he didn't know them. Getting inside the alley or the leaky was necessary though because he wanted to make sure no one would look into it when the trace was detected here so early in the morning.

So he bit the bullet and slowly opened door then slipped in still under cloak. Immediately he noticed he was in luck the bar was empty and the girl Tom had left to watch the Leaky over night was asleep at the reception desk for rooms and Tom himself was likely asleep. Harry crept forward looking for an out of sight spot to cast which is when he spotted the bars bathrooms. Immediately he made a beeline for the men's room which he locked behind him despite being under the cloak he wanted to take no chances.

Now he just needed to cast a bunch of random spells which he did stopping after 15 or so. Overkill for sure but he was nervous that they would look into this more than they should with his luck, so he wanted to absolutely beat the reverse charm or any variant. He decided to end on a Lumos deciding he would just claim he needed to see when he got up for the toilet and in his tired state he forgot not to use magic. Once he was finished he slipped out of the bathroom and past the still sleeping witch back onto the streets of London. The ride back was just as nerve racking as on the way there if not more so. Still he had no problems sneaking back in through his open window and stashing his broom and cloak away in his trunk.

Now it was nearly 6 and he just had to wait. He didn't even consider sleeping instead he either paced or sat at his desk trying to do summer work. He kept going like this till 7 am but nothing came so waited more till 8 am and still nothing came. He began to worry his information about the trace was wrong and they knew he had cast in the Leaky and were trying to find him there to figure out why. He heard his aunt and uncle wake up, one to cook and the other to prepare for work.

Then at half past 8 he spotted a brown owl winging its way toward his window. As soon as it arrived he quickly took the letter from the owl and ripped it open then scanned it. To his immense relief it seemed they had only detected magic coming from a wand under the trace at his address the one time near 3:30 am. They said they knew of his previous errored incidents and were worried something about if another such incident had occurred. They would be sending a pair of aurors to investigate and that he could expect to arrive around 11 am. Harry breathed a small sigh of relief at that because it meant they didn't expect much.

Still he knew the hardest part was to come convincing the aurors of his lie. But then again what would they even be looking for besides whatever he told them. Harry worried anyway both about the lie itself and his relatives. Fortunately he could hear his uncle leave for work soon after eating downstairs. His aunt though seemed content to watch tele though and he worried this would be a rare day she stayed home instead of going to meet one of her friends. It was nearly 10:30 when he heard the tele go off then her leave the house. That just left Dudley which was fortunate the boy was likely to sleep well into noon before getting up. Harry decided he should be fine now and all he needed to do was keep Dudley away.

Of course not ten minutes later and nearly twenty minutes early the doorbell rang. Harry cursed his luck and poor thinking he should've gone to wait by the door as soon as his aunt had left. He rushed out of his room and to Dudley's door and he pressed his ear against it listening for the boy. Fortunately all he could hear was a light snoring, then the doorbell rang again and the snoring stopped. For a moment Harry worried he would have to make up some lie but he heard Dudley mumble something then nothing. Harry could only guess he cursed at them and tried to go back to sleep deciding it was salesmen or something. Once again Harry thanked his unusually good luck and rushed downstairs and pulled open the door right as a woman, or really a girl with pink and purple hair reached for the bell again.

"Don't!" he said rather urgently and much louder than necessary

The girl startled by his loud cry jerked back in surprise and then promptly fell on her bum letting out a pointed shriek as she did so. Beside her a relatively short man slightly older man, standing maybe an inch taller than 13 year old Harry around 5'5" or 5'6" on a good day. The man also had dark hair and let out a bark of a laugh as she fell.

"And Dora goes down again!" the short man proclaimed

Harry at this point was both embarrassed and confused at having apparently startling 'Dora' to fall backwards so he struggled to keep his own laughter down at the absurdity of the situation. He was fairly certain the short man noticed though, his face must had that grin on it. The grin Snape seemed to want to kill him for every time he saw it because the man grinned back at Harry.

"Oh Merlin's Beard that hurt, kid you didn't need to shout in my face" the girl said from the ground rubbing her backside face scrunched up in pain. The sight of her doing so triggered a memory in Harry he had forgotten till now. Back in Harry's first year he remembered a clumsy Hufflepuff prefect that tripped or stumbled quiet often. On one said stumble she had fallen in quite a similar fashion as she had now right in front of Harry and the rest of his flying class. The only difference was unlike now where she wore robes and pants she had been in her normal Hogwarts uniform without her robes. This meant her skirt unfortunately, or "fortunately" in the mind Seamus Finnegan and several of Harry's other classmates, had risen very high indeed revealing a shockingly risqué pair of purple underwear to Harry's entire class for a moment.

For Harry well he knew only the basics of sex and such at the time and didn't really care to see the display then so he only looked away in embarrassment while some of the other boys stared in shock and a couple even whooped. That of course was met with smacks from any girls in their vicinity, something Seamus complained loudly about, and made the sprawled out girl aware of her wardrobe malfunction. One lecture/ embarrassed rant from a very red faced and haired prefect later the girl stomped off never to directly encounter Harry again for the rest of the year. That is until today here she was once again "tumbling Tonks" as she had been called during her time at Hogwarts sitting in a very familiar position on Harry's stoop.

The girl looked up and gave him a sharp glare "Oii it's Auror Tonks pipsqueak" she said indignantly. Harry flushed with embarrassment realizing he said that out loud and in an attempt to rectify the situation he offered his hand to pull her up. She rolled her eyes at him but allowed him to pull her up as the short man said "Tumbling Tonks huh? That works too kid honestly better that than Dora's down. Well except Dora's down has the added benefit of her name." He was grinning at Harry again like they shared some sort of private joke one Harry didn't get at all.

Well he didn't get it until Tonks slugged the man on the arm seemingly as hard as she could and said "I've told you a thousand times Thompson it's Tonks not Dora not Nym and certainly not Nymphadora."

She was glaring at the man that Harry now realized was actually just as tall as him which made the pair look like a couple of arguing siblings instead of aurors.

To his credit 'Thompson' just grinned and laughed as though the pissed witch hadn't just walloped his arm. "And I told you Dora I call you whatever you want when you finally beat me in a spar."

Tonks opened her mouth to say something paused in hesitation then closed it and continued to glare Thompson who continued to smirk at her for what felt like a full minute. Finally though Tonks huffed out a sigh looked away mumbled out something that sounded like a few very choice curse words about Thompson. Thompson choose to ignore her and turned his attention back to Harry finally dropping his grin into an easy smile he said "Hello there I'm auror Thompson and the clumsy one there is junior auror Tonks though you seemed to have already known that."

Harry was caught off guard by the abrupt change in topic but soon found himself answering the man while shaking his out stretched hand. "Yes ...um it's nice to meet you auror Thompson and …um nice to … see you again auror Tonks" harry said trying to give a small to the still irritated woman.

She didn't return it instead she said "Right let's get to it then Thompson so we can get out of here" not even sparing him a glance as she stepped inside and entered the family room.

"Wait a minute how you two know each other anyways?" Thompson said following his partner inside who was already busy shutting the blinds by the time Harry entered the room behind Thompson.

"Who Potter?" Tonks questioned "I was prefect 7th year at Hogwarts that meant taking care of the firsties like him you know that don't you Thompson?" she said with a wry grin shot in Thompson's direction.

"You know I have no idea how that crazy school of yours works Tonks." Thompson said with a glare. It seemed this was something that did bother the man.

"Oh that's right you didn't go to Hogwarts did you? You went to… oh what was it again Corny school of magic?" she said with a bit of chuckle

"Cornwall School of Magic you little minx and it's greater than Hogwarts in every way!" Thompson said irritated

"Oh that's right Cornwall you know I went to one the matches Hogwarts played there once. Say Harry when was the last time Cornwall beat Hogwarts in Quidditch anyway?" Tonks said directing the conversation back to Harry.

Harry was stood there a bit awkwardly in the corner confused by the arguing aurors. He wasn't confused about Cornwall or quidditch he had played on the Hogwarts team second year against Cornwall when the Gryffindor house team represented the school. No instead he was confused why these two aurors were goofing around like they weren't here to investigate a crime. He wasn't sure if they simple didn't care about the crime in question or if they were just two weirdos.

"Harry?" Tonks questioned and he realized he had zoned out a bit and now both of the aurors were staring at him.

"Oh um I think Oliver said it was back in 1963 or something like that when we last lost to them" Harry said with a blush.

Tonks grinned at him before turning back to Thompson who was glaring at Tonks again.

"Hear that Thompson sounds like Corny hasn't been better than Hogwarts in quite a while in Quidditch. Now that I think about it I pretty sure Hogwarts gets higher OWL and NEWT scores than good old Corny too doesn't it?" Tonks said coyly

"You …" Thompson mumbled the rest under breathe so Harry couldn't hear but he was sure it was particularly insulting. Tonks having finished closing the blinds didn't seem to care and only laughed at Thompson's reaction.

She then turned to Harry and her face suddenly serious she said "So Potter what's this about you using underage magic, again?"

Harry was completely thrown by the rapid subject change again and started to babble stutter for a moment incomprehensibly. Tonks serious face broke again and she burst out laughing at Harry's reaction.

"Oh I got you good Harry never thought the boy-who-lived would be afraid of me. Thompson did you see his face I got him good."

Thompson for his part only sighed clearly annoyed with his younger partner and said "Tonks if you're going to interrogate the suspect you've gotta stop breaking character."

"I'll stop breaking character when they finally let me interrogate a real suspect instead of kids using magic underage and drunkards" she replied dismissively while rolling her eyes.

Thompson glared at her for a moment clearly exasperated before he turned his attention back to Harry. "Mr. Potter would you please sit we just have a few questions regarding usage of underage magic at this location just after 3:30 am last night."

Harry for his part finally caught up with the strange almost comedy routine that had been going on and decided to simply follow Thompson's instructions and sit in a chair indicated by the man. He and Tonks took the couch across from him settling in before he spoke again.

"So Mr. Potter this incident regarding underage magic last night I'll be blunt was it you? We have been briefed on the incident in the summer of 92 in which a rogue house elf caused the trace to go off here and if that elf has reappeared we would very much like to know. We can't have damn parasite running around unchecked." Thompson said with a sneer

Harry shuddered a little at his response worried for Dobby. "Parasite sir?"

"Don't tell me you haven't been taught about house elves and other parasitic magical creature Mr. Potter what is Hogwarts doing if that's the case?" Thompson said a small grin directed at Tonks.

"I …uh...what?" Harry stammered out wondering if he had someone how missed this during one of Binns lectures which was quite possible considering he barley listened. But he read most the text book with Hermione's proding and knew it was better than any lecture Binns gave.

"Oh come off it Thompson Hogwarts covers magical parasites 5th year in DADA just because you Cornwall kids cover it earlier doesn't make you any better." Tonks said rolling her eyes at the man.

Thompson smirked in response and seemed about to say something contrary to that but Harry beat him to it. "House elves are parasites?" he questioned completely confused.

Tonks for her part sighed "Yes Harry err Mr. Potter house elves well technically just elves are a type of magical parasite. House elves if I remember correctly aren't considered parasites but instead symbitosis creatures."

"Symbiotic creatures you nitwit." Thompson said annoyed

Tonks glared him then continued "Fine Symbiotic creatures. Elves up until something like the 1690's I think just ran around and did whatever they wanted. They had magic but not nearly enough to do very much so they were a pest and you would find them near your home at times trying to siphon off some of the magic a witch or wizard generates. Elves couldn't generate much of their own magic but they can take it from nearby creatures or sites with a lot of magic something no other creature can do, it also weakens the target creature physically. Now elves didn't need magic to live per say but something as small and weak as that is going to have a hard time without out it. So as magical populations grew and they claimed all of the nonliving sites giving off magic elves mostly depended on it droves elves into a corner. Then in 1693 th-"

"1694" Thompson interrupted

"Gurr do you want to tell the story?" Tonks snapped at him

Thompson acting oblivious said "Sure so in 1694 this one elf goes a little nuts and gets the bright idea to try to eat magical creatures for magic which was crazy because elves barely eat as is. Somehow this worked and he spreads the knowledge around and inevitably this results in elves trying and succeeding in some cases in attacking, killing, and eating wizards. These elves that ate wizards would be temporarily super powered little buggers that could go around killing or kidnapping wizards for themselves or others of their kind. The practice spread like wildfire across the world but mostly Europe where almost all elves lived.

At first wizarding kind just tried the age old method of bounty hunters against them. Needless to say that didn't exactly work and the problem got worse till it reached its peak in 1698 and the first and only elf war began. Honestly I could bore you with the details of the thing but basically we under estimated the elves for a bit so we lost for a while then completely crushed them and wiped out most of their species. The remainder couldn't be allowed to ever try something like that again so it was either wipe them out, let them die out in the wild from lack of magic, or something else. That something else was make them house elves through a series of rituals that bonded them to serve wizarding kind in exchange for some of the magic we generate or in the sites we occupy.

Every now and again someone frees a house elf and instead of trying to find a new family or place to serve they try to steal magic again. So now you know why elves are parasites and we would be very interested in knowing if a rogue one was bothering you." Thompson finished with an almost feral grin and Harry suspected he had some kind of personal vendetta against the things.

"You know you just skipped over the last magical and muggle cooperative war like it was nothing right? You didn't even mention that it was the first war the newly formed British ministry fought in or the muggle born magical prince from what is now Germany that was kidnapped!" Tonks said clearly annoyed Thompson had taken over at all.

"Ya who cares, we don't have time to explain it all and he will learn it all eventually anyway." Thompson said smirking at a clearly irate Tonks.

Harry a little shell shocked from learning apparently just the watered down history of house elves was took a moment to gather his thoughts as Tonks and Thompson dissolved into another argument. Eventually Harry realized something he needed to move this along or else Dudley was going to come downstairs and who knew what would happen then. Harry didn't particularly care what Dudley said to the aurors he was sure they could take his insults and maybe put him in his place. But if Dudley told Harry's uncle 'freaks' had been in the house then Harry was likely going to have a problem. So Harry decided he needed to move this along.

He tuned back in a as Tonks was saying "oh so your saying you prefer when I change my-"

"There was no house elf …or any other kind elf!" Harry said cutting Tonks off from saying something he was sure he didn't need to hear. He wasn't really sure what he missed but it seemed the conversation had gotten a lot more personal.

Thompson looked like he was about to laugh and Tonks was blushing so bad her pink hair seemed to be turning red. That was something that confused Harry was Tonks a metamorphmagus? Harry couldn't recall from Hogwarts but it would explain that last bit and the hair changing. Also was Thompson her partner or her _partner_…? Harry couldn't tell they argued like siblings but he also had no idea what they had been discussing.

Harry decided to not worry about these random aurors lives and press on to get this over with. "I set off the trace" he said definitively getting both of their attentions back to him.

Neither said anything so he pressed on with his practiced story "I mean um … I didn't mean to you see… I just woke up in the middle of the night and needed the toilet. But I couldn't see anything so I just sort of grabbed my wand and cast small lumos for some light. I know I shouldn't have and all but I was still half asleep and it was just kind of instinct you know. Please don't snap my wand!" he lied as well as he could and hoped he came across as a scared kid.

The two aurors glanced at each other for a moment before they looked back at Harry then back to each other and finally just burst out laughing. Harry was utterly confused honestly out of all the reactions he had expected it hadn't been this.

"Ha ha ha …Oh ...oh merlin Potter ..oh ..merlin did you really think we would snap your wand over the most common reason the trace is triggered?" Thompson said a bit out of breath from laughing.

"Oh …sweet morgana's tit… Ha I think Bones might even get a laugh out of this one when I tell her the boy-who-lived thought he'd get his wand snapped for a potty break!" Tonks added.

Harry grew embarrassed despite the fact it was all a lie he couldn't help but feel pretty embarrassed because of how hard they laughed and that they were likely to spread it around a bit. Harry just hoped it didn't somehow end up in the papers he hated when they reported on him but this time it would really suck. Still at least they bought it … right?

"Ha Oh merlin…I don't think anyone had their wand snapped since the 1720's for using a lumos at home." Thompson said still chuckling a bit

"Ha you're right about that. Don't worry Harry the only time they really bother with giving more than a fine or something is if you're caught using underage magic out in public, wizarding or muggle, or you are considered an extreme repeat offender at home. Otherwise they just send us out to make sure everything is alright and clean up any messes. We mainly don't let muggleborns and special cases like you use magic at home because who knows when someone might wonder in that shouldn't." Tonks resplied

"Oh …um good" Harry said unsure that didn't totally line up with what he read and Hermione had discovered it seemed sometimes the wizgammot made examples of muggleborns for the hell of it but Harry wasn't going to say anything.

"Anyway kid let me see your wand" Tonks said

Thompson immediately shot her a grin and looked about to say something before Tonks kicked his leg and said "Shut up!"

Harry winced a bit for Thompson and kept his own grin down as he handed Tonks his wand. She quickly cast 'prior incanto' revealing Harry's last three spells to be two tickling charms and most recently a lumos.

Satisfied she released the magic and quickly handed Harry back his wand then asked "Anyone see you cast the charm that shouldn't?" Harry shook his head in the negative and said "No I was alone."

"Alright Thompson let's get out of here I'm hungry, Harry good to see you again" she said as she stood up Thompson following suit. Tonks headed for the back door that Harry had snuck out of the night before.

"Wait that's it?" Harry questioned.

"Ya kid what did you expect us to go search the house for traces of dark magic?" Thompson replied with a grin and a chuckle.

Harry paled a bit having not considered that "Uh … uh no I just expected a warning or something" he replied lamely.

Thompson snapped his fingers "Oh right ya this is your first official warning I think?" Harry nodded and said "The other two incidents were waived …I think."

"Right then …uh don't get two more or you're probably going to have a small hearing that will make you pay a fine …usually." Thompson said

"Usually?" Harry questioned

Thompson shrugged then replied "Sometimes those committees give a day or two in Azkaban if they think you deserve it or they are feeling particularly vindictive. Don't worry about it kid you're the boy-who-lived the worst they would do to you is probably issue the smallest fine and you probably wouldn't even need to be at the hearing."

"Oh …um good then" Harry said trying to give Thompson a smile despite how uncomfortable he was that his fame was doing something again.

"Right then keep your nose clean lad and hopefully we **won't** be seeing ya. Let's get out of here Tonks" he said with a laugh at his own joke as he stepped out the backdoor joining his partner outside.

"I've been the one waiting for you, you buffoon now let's go I need some food. Bye Harry" Tonks said waving then disapparating out with a pop.

Thompson rolled his eyes at Harry then disapparating out following Tonks. Harry breathed a sigh of relief now that they were both gone he could rest easy knowing they had bought his lie. They didn't even seem concerned that he might've been using dark magic. Much less that he would use said dark magic to off himself. Harry thought he had apparently gotten out of this entire thing scot free until he turned around and there was Dudley standing there at the base of the stairs hidden to anyone standing in the backyard.

"Who were those Freaks?" he said

Harry sighed he had been so fucking close.


	6. Chapter 6: A House but Never a Home

**A/N: This took a bit longer then I meant to but here it is enjoy!**

* * *

Harry was screwed and he knew it as soon as he had spotted Dudley. Obviously he didn't tell him that two aurors had just popped in for an underage magic check. He didn't really think Dudley was likely to even remember the term auror but he definitely wasn't explaining that using magic outside school was technically illegal. The fear of magic was what had kept all of his relatives at bay for the past 3 years. So Harry lied and simply said they were friends of his which amazingly Dudley seemed to believe but he then went on a rant about "freaks" not being welcome here and one being bad enough. This was something Harry just endured and ignored, well he tried to until Dudley mentioned he would be telling his parents later.

That was expected but still made Harry very nervous and on reflex Harry had tried to convince him not to. Dudley of course wouldn't budge and even laughed at him saying "he would get his soon enough." Harry had considered bribing the boy but he had no muggle money left after yesterday and he had nothing else to offer the boy. Of course he wished he could use the memory charm and block the incident out of the boy's head but of course he didn't know it yet and it would of course set off the trace. He even considered contacting the aurors and letting them know they had been seen apparating but they were unlikely to take that well when they realized the person who saw them already knew about magic.

So here Harry was wondering the streets of Little Whinging in the late afternoon dreading returning back to number 4 Privet Drive. Harry was nearly certain his aunt and uncle wouldn't do anything except yell and rave about not allowing 'Freaks' into '_their'_ home! Yelling and raving he could handle fine, it wouldn't be fun but it had been a large part of his childhood so he was used to it. Hell he was pretty sure all of his earliest memories involved people raising their voices even his parents. Though he supposed he was lucky to remember their voices at all having been one at the time. If the dementors hadn't killed his godfather and weren't literal life sucking demons he might even thank them.

He snorted a bit at the thought drawing the attention of a nearby couple who looked at him like he was crazy. Normally he might be embarrassed by that but he couldn't care less at the moment, he was too worried to care. Worried that yelling wasn't going to be the only problem and that his relatives, really his uncle in particular, was finally going to overcome his fear of magic and attack Harry…again.

The chance seemed low but every time something like this happened Harry knew he was tempting fate. He knew he couldn't beat Vernon in fight either the man was simply too large. Not particularly large in height, although Harry was sure he was above average, it was his width that was the real problem. He was huge covered by a thick layer of fat that would make any of the scrawny boys hits feel like tickles and the man was also deceptively strong. Harry didn't know a lot about Vernon's past but if he had to guess he must have played some sort of sport, rugby or boxing perhaps. That could explain the hidden muscle that must lay under all that fat which meant fighting Vernon the muggle way wasn't going to work.

That just left Harry with magic which would work fine against the large man and Harry didn't really care all that much about the consequences. Sure he might get in trouble if he used it but to be honest he didn't really care he had decided long ago that he would use magic if ever felt he needed to against Vernon. Apparently though the consequences might be less than he thought though according to the two aurors it seemed unlikely any hearing would go that badly for him. No legal action wasn't what had Harry worried it was that Vernon might get the jump on him before he could draw his wand. For all of Harry's practice in wandless magic he was essentially inept at it and if Vernon got him before he drew his wand Harry was in for a world of pain.

That's why Harry delayed going back to the house he was nervous that despite his advantage he was going to lose. So he kept wondering the streets of Little Whinging trying to delay longer and longer even as the sun threatened to set he hesitated to return. He finally changed his mind when he realized where he was approaching. Up ahead sat a small familiar shop, similar to many others around it only it still had its lights on. The shop was of course the one Becca worked at, one of the few people Harry wanted to avoid more than his relatives at the moment. Just the thought of entering the shop and seeing her smile caused him almost physical pain. There was a girl who had been kind to him because she thought he was cute and impressed by his actions but Harry had gotten it all twisted in his head last night. He had believed she was only pitying him when she kissed him but people didn't give kisses out of pity…did they? No no they didn't you have to like someone to kiss them he told himself. He needed to believe that otherwise that meant he had gotten first kiss out of pity which would just make him feel even more terrible.

Harry still couldn't face Becca though seeing her smile or hearing her laugh would be too much after last night. He felt ashamed for convincing himself she was only taking pity on him which had partially led to his attempt. So he promptly turned around and headed to the house not taking the chance to pass by the store in case she was there. The journey back to the house Harry didn't think about much instead he just enjoyed the relative peace and quiet of the world around him knowing it was going to be broken as soon as he stepped in the door.

It was completely dark by the time he had arrived and Harry was certain he had missed dinner as well but he didn't expect he would've gotten anything tonight anyway. He quietly opened the front door wondering if he should've brought his cloak to sneak in but that likely would've just delayed this and angered them more. He also would've been worried all night that they were going to try to enter his room while he was sleeping and thus catch him off guard. Even still as he stepped into the house his first instinct was to try and sneak up stairs and wait out the coming storm.

"BOY!" but it seemed the storm had already arrived at the sound of his uncles voice, and harry sighed.

"BOY GET IN HERE" he called from around the small corner in the family room. Harry reluctantly obeyed wanting to get this over with and found the whole family gathered his aunt and uncle on the sofa glaring at him and his cousin smirking in the nearby chair. That stupid little shit had to be some kind of sadist but Harry wouldn't give him the satisfaction and he steeled himself as he faced his relatives.

"Uncle Vernon how are you today?" he said trying to throw his uncle off.

It didn't work "BOY what's this about you bringing more FREAKS into my HOME?!" the older man snarled.

Well two could play at this game Harry thought. "I'm doing well today thank you for asking" he said completely ignoring the man's question.

His uncle's face somehow became even angrier but to his surprise the response came from beside his uncle before the man could say anything. "Enough of your tripe, we don't want any of your kind here boy, we have made that perfectly clear in the past and you will obey us this is _our_ home!" Petunia said venomously.

"That's right!" Vernon shouted "This is _our _home and I will not have any more Freaks it!"

Harry felt an unexpected surge of anger at that. Not being called a Freak but that these people thought of him as some outsider. They hated him and didn't see him as family at all so instead of simply nodding and acting like he would obey he attacked instead.

"_Your_ home? _Your _home… I suppose that's right this isn't my home is it? If this was my home I wouldn't have scars on my back, I wouldn't have been worked from age 6 to 11 like a slave, and I wouldn't HATE the people I LIVE WITH!" he roared back

His uncle stood up and took a step toward him. Harry fingered is wand clearly visible from his pocket and his uncle stopped but his fury didn't.

"You ungrateful little SHIT! We took you in, we feed you, and gave you everything you needed!" he practically spit out pointing his large meaty finger toward Harry.

"Ha everything I needed alright from clothes that don't fit to a room under the bloody stairs!" he responded

His aunt piped up "We should've given you away to an orphanage like Vernon suggested. I was stupid to think we could stamp your freakishness out of you if we raised you!"

"Well at least we can agree on one thing then you're definitely stupid if you think what you did could be considered raising me!"

"BOY! How dare you insult my wife like that!" Vernon shouted

"Oh I'm sorry how would you prefer I insult her? Maybe I should insult her looks instead of her intelligence or perhaps just her shitty personality and inability to be kind?" Harry replied coldly while slipping his wand out of his pocket.

As Harry predicted Vernon attempted to advance at him so enraged he hadn't noticed Harry palm his wand. So Harry quickly leveled his wand at the man stopping in his tracks.

"Stay where you are if you don't want me to make you a full pig instead of just the tail." Harry stated reminding them of Hagrid's entrance and Dudley's temporary tail.

Vernon was steaming at this point his face was as red as a cherry and knuckles as white as flour. The man clearly wanted to hurt him, how badly Harry didn't know but he wasn't intending to find out. He wasn't going to be turning the man into a pig that was for sure he didn't know how but he would toss him around a bit at minimum.

"You wouldn't dare!" Petunia screeched "There will be no ma…ma…MAGIC in this house do you understand me you ungrateful little child! Lily never use-"

"Don't say her name you have no right!" Harry replied in a panic knowing she had been on the verge of realizing something.

"She was my sister I have every right you ungrateful welp. I knew her all her life which is why I can say she was disgrace to the family and that we wanted nothing to do with her, you, or your father." She replied forgetting her previous thought

Harry shifted his wand toward Petunia and said "My parents were better people than you will ever be you…you Bitch!"

Vernon's rage was set off again by this insult and without the wand trained on him he charged Harry. Harry in a moment of sheer panic didn't even cast against the walrus instead he scrambled out of the way just barely avoiding his uncle. This caused Vernon to run into the wall behind Harry headfirst and fall on his ass head clearly spinning.

Harry turned his wand on the downed man "You fucking asshole I told you to stay still!" Harry debated whether to follow through with his threat on casting on the man but his almost comical charge had left him dazed and confused. In other words he was a prime target for a much more suitable revenge which is why Harry instead punched the man right in the nose. Vernon instantly collapsed onto his back blood flowing from his nose even more dazed but still conscious.

Harry instantly felt immense satisfaction from the act although it was nothing compared to his overwhelming anger. He then also realized Hermione had been right last year when she had punched Malfoy, that had hurt like hell and he clutched his hand and shook it trying to rid himself of the pain. The pain that distracted him from Dudley standing up and also trying to charge him.

Fortunately the boy was a moron and roared in anger as he started moving bringing Harry's attention from his injured hand to his moronic cousin. Harry instantly pointed his wand at the boy intended to blast him backward but it proved unnecessary the boy panicked seeing the wand. Dudley was always more afraid of magic than Vernon having been subjected to its effects before.

So Harry supposed it was entirely unsurprising that in an attempt to stop and get out of the way the boy tripped over the leg of the nearby coffee table. This sent the boy falling helplessly face first onto the ground leaving him moaning over something about his knee.

Petunia screeched as Dudley fell drawing Harry's attention to terrible woman worried she would try something similar. Instead she rushed to Dudley's side and began fretting over her 'poor baby boy' before turning her giraffe like neck back towards Harry.

"You Freak look at what you've done now. I won't have it anymore get out, Get Out, GET OUT OF MY HOME! You're terrible little monster that is nothing but a Curse on my entire family Lily included!"

Harry stepped back not in fear of the clearly angry woman but in shock. Her words had cut him deeply she had unknowingly just called him something he wasn't sure he could refute, a curse. So instead he simply replied to something he could refute "If I'm a monster it's only because I've been living three others for my entire life. So yes I'll leave this hell hole and happily never look back you bitch."

Harry didn't wait for her to respond instead he side stepped the large collapsed form of Vernon and ran up the stairs. He entered his room and began throwing the few things he had taken out of his trunk back into it. It was when he got to Hedwig's cage that he realized the bird was there squawking at him and for a moment Harry felt some relief seeing his beloved friend.

"Hedwig you're back!"

The owl hooted in response

"It's good to see you too girl. But we can't talk we need to leave it's last year all over again only so much worse." He said as quickly as he could.

The owl didn't verbally reply instead she simply hopped out of her cage onto his tiny desk and tapped her foot. It was then Harry noticed the letter near her that in his rush was almost missed. He quickly checked the name and was happy to see it was Hermione's elegant signature.

"Thanks girl, now you need to go meet me at the Leaky we will figure out what to do from there alright?" Harry said while grabbing the letter, his few other possessions on his desk, and Hedwig's cage.

The bird cooed in response and Harry gently pet her head trying to reassure her he would be alright. She cooed again before moving away and taking flight out the window. Harry put the last of his things in his trunk and made his way back downstairs his wand out and at the ready.

The first thing he found was a lack of Vernon near the bottom of the stairs instead he could hear the man from the kitchen speaking to someone. That confused him when he noticed Dudley was laying on the couch with Petunia at his side.

The woman turned to him as he reached the ground floor his loud trunk in tow. She glared at him but then gave him an evil grin and said "Vernon's on the phone with the police now, he going to get them to come and arrest you and then we will be rid of you for good you horrible little boy!"

Harry's eyes widened and he cursed under his breathe he should've left under his cloak and now it was too late to dig it out, he need to hurry. He rushed for the door and Petunia just now seemed to realize his intention to escape shouting "Vernon he's getting away!"

"WHAT?!" the man said poking his head around the corner

Harry turned and leveled his wand at the man "Don't make me use this and if you know what's good for you then you won't follow me. I'm leaving here for good this time so you should be happy about that. I know I am, I can't believe I stayed this long living with you absolute wankers! You are the worst people I've ever met and that is saying something considering I've met the man who killed my parents. So you better hope we never see each other again because I will give you so much more than a broken nose. Oh and Petunia I'm not a curse on your entire family because I can say without a doubt my mother and I are no family of yours!"

With that Harry flung open the door and quickly moved outside he could hear Vernon shouting from inside the house but a quick check over his shoulder revealed he wasn't following. Harry intended to simply call the Knight bus then and there to escape before the police arrived. However with his newly improved vision he noticed that wasn't going to work because he could see heads poking through blinds. They were nothing but silhouettes in the darkness but their own lights let him see they were there, watching.

So Harry intended to leave for the park but as he stepped on the street he swear he felt his magic snap at something he couldn't identify. Another quick peak over his shoulder revealed no one following so Harry set off as fast as he could with his trunk behind him ignoring the feeling. It took several minutes, minutes that felt like hours, as Harry booked it for the nearby park he had left from last year. Fortunately he made it there with no problems and seemingly no pursuers so he checked the small park for any witnesses before raising his wand to summon the bus.

He never thought he would be impatient for the speedy bus to arrive but as he stood there and the minutes ticked by he became more and more nervous. Getting arrested by muggle police would be a real problem he knew he could probably get out of it once he told his side of the story but how was he going to explain his magic to them? The short answer was that he couldn't which meant they were going to be very confused by a lot of things and eventually the ministry would likely have to step in creating an even bigger mess.

Just as Harry shuddered to consider how that would all work out he heard a loud screech and suddenly the bus was there. Harry quickly climbed abroad and ignored Stan's greeting instead simply stating "The Leaky Cauldron" and paying his fare. It was then right as harry was about to sit down before the bus took off in another dizzying flash that Harry looked out the window and noticed a police car driving by seemingly oblivious to the bus. Then it was gone as the ground, the roads, the houses, and the cars seemed to blur because the Knightbus was moving which threw Harry into his seat.

Getting a room was even easier than last time Tom didn't even question it when he showed up nor announce his presence to the busy bar. Harry just blended in with the crowd and went to the bar then was directed to the girl he had spotted last night sleeping at her desk. She was nice enough didn't even seem to even recognize him though she did seem to be trying to. He wasn't sure if she couldn't recognize him without his signature glasses or if it was something else but when he gave her a fake name she didn't question it and just gave him his room key.

Harry did wonder why it was that wizards just allowed unaccompanied minors to rent rooms but the wizarding world had always been strange so he just shrugged and entered the shabby room he had been given. Well shabby wasn't quite accurate to him, the room was actually about the same size as his one at the Dursley's maybe bigger plus it had its own bathroom. But the room was also clearly very old and not that clean, in fact he wondered if it had been cleaned since the last guest at all.

He shuddered at the thought and locked the door having decided if the trace was covered here once then it would be again. So he cast the only cleaning charm on the room he knew several times causing some dust and grime to be removed. Still the room remained dirty Harry didn't know if his cleaning charms weren't up to snuff or if the filth was just so deeply rooted in the room it wouldn't come out. Still it made him feel a bit better as he collapsed on the mattress with a sigh of relief.

Thoughts swam through his head of the day in a blur. Waking up from attempting suicide, from the killing curse no less, lying to aurors about said suicide. Then finally dealing with his relatives hopefully once and for all. He couldn't believe how out of hand that had gotten it wasn't even over anything that important. Having others over wasn't something Harry was planning on doing in the future at the Dursley's anyway. But when Petunia had made it clear he didn't belong there he had just snapped and everything had continued to escalate from there.

Harry didn't care what Dumbledore said he wouldn't be going back even the man forced him too. He would just leave again at the first opportunity hopefully before he even met them at the station. They could all rot in hell because he wouldn't be living with people who would attack and abuse him at the first chance anymore. He might not be sure whether he wanted to die or not but he certainly didn't want to _live_ there.

Thinking about it he wondered if Dumbledore would notice he was gone and come looking for him to force him back. If so surely the Leaky would be one of the first places he would look after all Harry had hidden here just last year after a similar incident.

For a moment Harry considered leaving heading into London to hide would definitely be easy in some ways and hard in others. It would be easy to hide in such a crowded city that was for sure but where would Harry stay would be the question. Unlike the wizarding world only the most seedy places would let someone as young as him rent a room no questions asked. He was fairly sure if he looked hard enough and spent a bit of extra money on a bribe that he could get a room. The other problem though was that Harry was out of muggle money he never kept much on him to begin with and he had spent the last of it yesterday.

Going to Gringotts was of course an option except Harry knew they were closed, goblins were fairly obsessed with the number 6 so of course they opened at 6 am and closed at 6 pm. The only number they liked more than 6 was 666 which was what started the idea that it was the number of beast according to Binns. Harry couldn't really blame ancient muggles for the assumption either if Harry hadn't seen real demons he would have thought goblins were demons too.

That really left Harry with no options but to stay the night and hope that Dumbledore or anyone else who might try to send him back didn't find him. At least the woman at the desk hadn't seemed to recognize him he was thankful for small miracles like that. He did find it odd though was he really that different without his glasses? He hadn't really bothered to look too closely in a mirror all day being too worried about so many problems.

He got off the lumpy mattress and headed toward the bathroom there he found a mirror over the sink and at first glance he had to admit it was a bit of a change. Without his glasses he could certainly understand if he stood out less since so few wizarding children seemed to wear them. He supposed it might have to do with magic keeping the body healthy better and longer at least that's what he had been told for why wizards lived so long. It would make sense then that younger wizards magic might keep them completely healthy except for the rare case. It didn't explain his own visions sudden improvement really but he could work on that later.

Missing his glasses really only explained why the bar patrons and Tom, who barely spared him a glance, hadn't recognized him. How did a woman who looked him right in the face not notice who he was? Was he wrong did the woman notice and just choose to say nothing even when he gave her a fake name? That thought sent Harry into a bit of a panic if she had recognized him she might be telling others right now and then it was only a matter of time until Harry was found! What was he going to do he had already worked out that he had nowhere else to go for the night.

He tried to calm down and take deep breathes fighting off what he recognized was an impending panic attack. That was when he noticed it or the lack of it really behind his slightly long hair. He pushed the hair back in disbelief and actually gasped, his scar the one he had since he was a baby it was…well it wasn't gone but it seemed to be just a scar now. It wasn't red and constantly inflamed like it usually was, something he had been told once was because dark magic lingered there. Instead it was pale white against his already light skin so he could still see it up close but with his hair the way he normally kept it the scar would be practically non-existent.

This was why the witch had been concentrating on Harry's forehead, she had been looking for a scar that until today was visible for all the world to see at just a glance. Without his glasses or the scar Harry wasn't Harry Potter the boy-who-lived he just looked like any other random teen with messy hair in a dimly lit bar. He let out a sigh of relief maybe he wouldn't be found any time soon after all and maybe he could rest easy for the rest of the summer.

* * *

**A/N: So we are finally moving at a better pace I think. I think I stayed at Little Whinging too long even if I feel it helped establish this Harry better. Anyway sorry to the people hoping to see Becca again, maybe in the far future but I couldn't work her in naturally so I moved on. **

**Also to those worried I'm about to do a bunch of boring training, politicking, and inheriting stuff you will be happy to know that isn't the plan for any of this fic. There will definitely be some but I'll be keeping it light. The story focuses more on Harry's internal struggles, relationships, better explanations for the magical world/magic, and eventually the war. **

**Lastly I actually have two ideas for next chapter and I won't spoil anything but basically how many people would prefer a small time skip compared to more of a montage of the next two months. Let me know before I post the next chapter either in the reviews or in the poll if I can figure out how to make it work.**


	7. Chapter 7: Homeward Bound

**A/N: Yeah it's been a while sorry about that hopefully I'll have a more weekly or faster release schedule from now on. Also yes I changed the date the express shows up because like a lot of things in the books I think Rowling wrote it without really thinking ahead. In the first book the train leaves on September 1st which is a Sunday thus classes start on a Monday. But for some reason they don't seem to get out on the same day every year. Which means the school schedule does move like a real school schedule and so should the the start date. So I had the express show up on the first Sunday of September like first year which in 1994 is the 4th. **

* * *

A small smile graced his face looking upon the scarlet red and black steaming engine before him. The last roughly two months he hadn't had many of those on his face, not because it had been a difficult transition to living alone without his relatives. No that had been easy, in fact it was the best part of the last two months, but everything else had been difficult. It had been so difficult he had debated leaving Britain all together. He even looked into moving to one of the properties he now owned in both the States and Australia. In fact he still wondered if that wouldn't be the right choice after all he had learned but he had made a deal and he was going to stick to it. Well he liked to think of it as a deal any way but he supposed it might be closer to black mail something that suited him now he supposed.

So here he was on September 4th 1994 about to board the Hogwarts express for his 4th year of schooling and despite his worries about what the year might bring and about the people that might try to use him he still smiled. The sight of the train that would take him to his first real home once again certainly deserved at least a smile. He might no longer trust several residents of the castle and he hadn't trusted some to begin with but the place was where all of his friends were, all his happy memories, and it was the place that freed him from his 11 year hell. Hogwarts would always be his first home no matter what happened to it or who was there because it was the place that ultimately made Harry who he was.

The trains whistle blew loudly for the first time letting those assembled know there were ten minutes left till departure. So he grabbed his expanded trunk and made to board train hoping to find his friends and make amends for the chaos he had caused them this summer.

Fortunately or unfortunately it didn't take long to find Hermione sitting alone near the back of the train head buried in a book of course. Harry paused before he knocked scared that this wasn't going to go well he hadn't made contact with her in any way shape or form since he sent out his letter in early June asking for her help about his dreams. He wanted to claim in the chaos of him running away he had not had the time to write her back but that wasn't true. Many times he had considered writing her whenever another letter of hers arrived and even after he had made his deal he still hadn't written her. He could've at that point because he felt while no one was particularly happy with the deal none dared break it either.

No it hadn't been that which kept him from writing to her or Ron, instead it had been fear. A fear that her last letter to him was right and that he was … he was broken. That he had some sort of disorder she hadn't been sure which in the letter only that it seemed likely given all he had seen that night that he was traumatized permanently. She had implored him to let her help that they could overcome it together. Harry had felt sick when he had read her letter believing he had been right that night, he was a burden to everyone, and now an even bigger one. Worst of all he placed the biggest burden on his best friend who had been forced to help him in anything from homework to defeating dark lords.

So Harry stood there staring at his best friend with his hand on the handle to the compartment. He stared long and hard wondering if he should go inside if he was selfish enough to burden her with his problems or if it would just be easier to walk away. He wasn't sure if he could hide on the train or not his warding skills were still raw at best but he could try at least. Keeping himself away from her and Ron was the right thing to do …wasn't it? His hand fell from the handle and he nearly turned away when the girls head snapped up.

It took her a moment to recognize his new look before her eyes went wide and her expression was hard to read first seemingly happy, then sad, then angry, and then maybe all at once. He couldn't tell all he knew was suddenly the girl leaped from her seat and rushed the door before he could move. She stared at him for an uncomfortably long moment in which neither of them spoke. Her expression unreadable but her hazel eyes told quite the tale almost like a war was going on in there. Finally she seemed to settle on an emotion but just Harry's luck it would happen to be anger.

So with strength the girl certainly didn't seem to have she pulled Harry into the compartment and pushed him toward the far wall then shut the door in one fluid motion. She then whipped her wand out and Harry thinking she was going to curse him palmed his own as well ready to throw up a shield. It proved unnecessary though as instead she began moving her wand in a complex pattern around the compartment casting what Harry realized was a privacy ward.

When she was done she stood glaring at him for a moment before taking a step forward and then CRACK. As his cheek burned Harry realized he was truly fucked this wasn't just anger this was Hermione in a state of righteous fury. Most of the time that was reserved for people or issues far beyond her control but Harry also remembered when it had awakened against Malfoy last semester and wondered if he would also be visiting Pomfrey tonight.

Before he could even think of anything to say she yelled "You are an arsehole Harry Potter!" and then she slapped him again on the other cheek leaving Harry a bit stunned.

"First you write me a letter about how you're having nightmares making me worried more than usual about your head." She is starting to tear up now but still glaring at him

"Then I hear from Ron you've disappeared and the headmaster comes looking for you at my house." Her voice is venomous as she lays into him and Harry stands there unsure what to say.

Not that she gives him a chance to "Next you don't respond to any of my letters making me wonder where you are and if you're safe. No one knew where you were for a whole month Harry! Nothing from you, or Ron, or Dumbledore, or anyone about where you were or if you were alright!"

Her glare drops and her tears begin to fall as she says "I thought you were … you were …dead." The girl starts crying nearly uncontrollably now her hands wiping her eyes constantly.  
Harry isn't sure what to do he is bad at emotional situations like this and it doesn't help that there are tears involved. He had expected the anger but the tears he didn't know how to handle. Eventually he awkwardly tried to move his arm to her shoulder in some attempt to assure her he wasn't dead.

She recoiled at his touch apparently in shock for a moment like she actually had thought he was dead or simply had forgotten he was right in front of her.

"Get off" she huffed out anger once again in her tone. Then she pushed him in the chest with both hands into the wall.

She stepped forward pining him against the wall poking his chest repeatedly as she said "_After_ a _Month_ of _Nothing_, I finally hear from Ron that you're _not_ dead but that's all he knows either. Now here you are as if nothing _happened_ thinking you can just walk right back in and everything will be _okay_! Well I've had it Potter!"

"Hermione I-" he tried to get out not even sure what he was going to say.

It didn't matter she cut him off "No don't Hermione me. You insufferable absolutely irresponsible excuse for a friend!"

She pulled back her arm and in a quick snap arced it around again but to the surprise of both of them he caught it inches from his face. Hermione's expression went from anger to shock to anger again and then lastly changed to sadness.

"Harry I…I-" she tried to get out apprehensively clearly thinking she had gone to far.

He cut her off "No Hermione you're right I've not been a good friend, I'm …I'm sorry. I…I understand if you want me to leave you alone…forever" he bit out as his head dropped unable to meet her gaze and he released her arm.

He could feel her gaze still on him but couldn't look up he knew she must hate him now and he deserved it. Clearly he had screwed up again and he was a burden on her just by ignoring her it was a wonder she had put up with him for this long. Making her out to be the bad guy when she was being reasonable or ignoring her when she was trying to help in the past.

So he was completely unsurprised when he felt her slap him once again but what did surprise him was her scalding tone when she said "Are you absolutely stupid?!"

His head snapped up and he was met with absolutely livid eyes and he could swear he felt magic coming off her like waves of heat.

"I was just trying to tell you I've been completely worried about you all summer and now you think I want nothing to do with you!?"

She glared at him waiting for him to say something.

"I just …I just thought you were fed up with me?" he said unsure himself

"Well you got that damn right you bloody moron!" she screeched causing Harry to recoil only to bump into the wall again.

"Then you do want nothing to with me?" he said timidly

Hermione sighed clearly exasperated and still angry "Harry James Potter! You are an absolute prat and going to be the death of me!"

Harry winced in response to that as a recent dream, well nightmare, of his came back to him for a moment. He didn't only dream of Sirius' death now instead the nightmares had changed he would see any and every one he cared about and even some people he didn't care about dying. Sometimes it was the whole school, sometimes his house, sometimes the professors, sometimes his best friends, and sometimes just Sirius again. It happened in so many different ways too, from troll attacks to Voldemort and nearly everything in between. The nightmares still seemed to come at random too he couldn't know if he would get a good night of dreamless sleep.

"Harry?" she said drawing from his thoughts.

"Harry you might be an absolute prat but do you really think I would ever want to stop talking to you?"

"I… well … I just thought…I thought maybe I was a bit too much trouble for you to deal with" he said softly.

Hermione actually laughed a bit at that "Well I suppose you are a bit troublesome Harry and you do get us into all sorts of crazy situations"

Harry sunk his head again.

"But you're the crazy one if you think I'd ever let you go just to get away from all that. I'd miss my best friend too much" she said softly smiling for the first time since he had seen her today.

"Hermione…I…I don't deserve you. I don't deserve you or Ron sticking with me the way you have" he said in a resigned tone.

Hermione stepped forward again but this time instead of pushing him into the wall she wrapped her arms around him and embraced him.

"Harry you are the best friend I've ever had and you saved my life multiple times I will never not be your friend alright?" she said softly

Harry after a moment of shock and slight panic finally returned her hug not feeling at all at ease trapped as he was. But this was important so he uneasily returned her embrace only shaking a bit and said "Yeah Hermione I got it."

Fortunately she seemed to notice his discomfort and pulled away.

"Good! But Harry, you still have a lot of explaining to do!" she said firmly with some of her anger creeping back in.

Harry sighed "I know…I know but can we wait for Ron? I don't want to have to start all over since he should be here any minute now."

She looked like she wanted to press him then and there but the one minute whistle blew and her fierce expression softened so then she simply nodded.

Harry gave her the most reassuring and friendly smile he could manage and after a moment she rolled her eyes flashed her own slightly too large pearly whites back at him. Then she lunged forward and once again brought him into another hug.  
"No matter what happened I really am happy you're alright Harry you had me so worried."

He was uncomfortable again but this time Hermione didn't linger and she let go of him nearly as quickly as she had embraced him.

"Sorry I know you don't like hugs I just…I just" she said unable to meet his eyes and her face seemed a bit red.

"It's alright Hermione I understand and for what it's worth I'm sorry I worried you" Harry said trying to get her to stop rambling which could only make things more awkward.

Hermione looked up and smiled again then after a rather intimate moment of eye contact between the two they both looked away and Hermione returned to her seat while Harry scrambled to stow his previously forgotten trunk away. Finally after a small struggle he took his seat just as the train started to move.

"Where is Ron anyway?"

Hermione who had been rather obviously pretending to read while glancing his way every other second like he might disappear seemed surprised he had spoken at all.

"What?! I um sorry could you say that again?" Hermione said obviously embarrassed and Harry had to reign in a chuckle because it was clear she had been lost in her own thoughts once again.

Instead he just kindly repeated his question trying to keep the chuckle down and only mostly succeeding causing Hermione to pout for a moment before answering.

"Oh he should be back any minute now said he needed to talk to the twins right before you got here"

"Wait Ron and the rest of the Weasleys all beat me here?" he said incredulously

Hermione chuckled "Honestly Harry one does have to wonder if about the implications of that don't they? Maybe it's just you that's late to everything" she said teasingly

"I wasn't late!" he said defensively

"Well no but you were later than Ron and you were with Ron the one time you were both so late you didn't even get on the train."

"That was Dobby's fault and you know it" he said sharply

Hermione laughed "Alright calm down Harry I know it was."

"I still can't believe they beat me here I was so sure they would come running in last second as usual."

"Well they probably would've if I hadn't convinced Ron and Ginny to pack the night before for once. Still took them nearly an hour to get to the car in the morning though. Honestly I can't believe how unorganized they are sometimes" she said obviously exasperated.

Harry chuckled for a moment at the families amazing ability to remain unorganized and behind schedule all the time. Then he realized something "Wait you were at the Burrow?"

Hermione scowled "You didn't even read my letters?!"

"I…I read some of them" he said abashed although in truth he had only glanced over the first two she sent after she found out he ran away which was the only thing she wrote about in those letters.

She continued to scowl at him and looked ready to go off again so Harry tried to defuse by saying "Look I'm sorry I was extremely busy trying to work out my new living situation and studying."

Which were both true although he knew he could've spared a few minutes to at least read the letters if he had wanted to.

She looked conflicted then asked "What do you mean new living situation? And studying, you?"

"Hey I study!" he said indignantly

She chuckled whether at his response or childlike tone he wasn't sure.

"No really I've done a lot this summer even decided to switch divination with Runes so I had to try to get caught up. Although that was mostly just to get away from Trelawney." He admitted the last part a bit more quietly.

Hermione perked up at that "You decided to switch to Runes? Oh that's great Harry I told you divination was completely useless last year but neither you nor Ron would listen to me."

"Well that's not entirely true I listened …I just…um decided I'd rather take the easy class honestly" he said while rubbing the back of his head.

She rolled her eyes "Yeah and how did that go? She predicted your death just about every week."

"Try every class." He said annoyed

"Well at least you're out of there now. Did you catch up with all of the first level material? I know the Arabic runes are particularly tricky but I have my notes if you want and I can always tutor you to catch yo-"

"Hermione" he said loudly cutting her off "I'll be fine I promise I'm not even starting with second level class."

"You're not?"

He shook his head "I'm starting in the remedial first level class for those that failed last year or are starting a year or two late like me. If I do well enough then I'll be moved into the second level class if not I'll be moved to first level class till I catch up on my own if at all."

Hermione looked confused "We have remedial classes?"

Harry laughed "Of course you wouldn't know about those Miss perfect grades."

Hermione gasped then pouted at the affront then mumbled something.

"What was that Miss perfect?" he said teasingly

"I said I didn't get perfect grades, I got a EE in DADA." she returned hotly

Harry stated at her before he burst out laughing going on for what felt like a full minute this time. Finally he caught his breathe enough to say "Only you Hermione would be mad about an EE."

"It isn't even my fault!"

"Oh?"

"It's yours"

"Mine?"

"Yes, yours. If you hadn't gone in there able to cast every spell with such ease that it looked like child's play I would've got an O for sure." She ranted on

"Hermione I'm sure I wasn't the only one to get an O was I?" he said a bit annoyed but also teasingly

"Well no I suppose not…But you certainly made it harder."

Harry rolled his eyes now "By that logic you made it harder for everyone else in nearly half the other classes because I know you were far in above top in at least Charms and Runes. And I'm sure you were pushing for first in several other classes."

"Well I just …I mean … damn it Harry stop laughing" she said and then preceded to hit his leg with her book to try to get him to shut up.

It only made him laugh louder which is the scene Ron opened the door to immediately causing the pair to freeze once they turned to look at him. He had a completely confused expression on his face and before either of the two could explain themselves Ron spoke.

"Where are your glasses mate?"

Harry and Hermione looked back at each other owlishly and burst out laughing again confusing Ron even more.

"What?!" he said annoyed

"It's just …" Hermione tried to get out before laughing again

Harry calmed down enough to finish for her "It's just why would that be your first question mate?"

Ron flushed "Well I just …I don't know that was the first thing I noticed! What was I supposed to ask?"

"How about the thing we've both been wondering all Summer Ron" Hermione screeched hotly.

Ron flushed again and but said nothing instead deciding to take a seat next to Harry instead of the angry girl.

Harry chuckled lightly at his friend's antics but immediately regretted it as Hermione's glare focused in on him.

"And you Mister had better start explaining. Right. Now!" she practically growled out

Harry's hand discreetly reached for his wand on instinct afraid the girl might do something even as he placated her by saying "Alright, alright calm down Mione. I'm sorry."

"You better be, now start talking."

"Ok …Ok well first I feel like I should answer Ron's question." Hermione growled a bit "Calm down, I'm sure you already guessed Mione otherwise you would've asked but anyway Ron I got contacts which are like little glasses that fit in my eye." Harry blatantly lied.

Ron went from confused at the term contacts to slightly less confuse thanks to Harry's explanation "Oh…alright mate I think I got it. You've just got smaller glasses then right?"

"Sure Ron close enough" Harry said with a hint of sarcasm that Ron clearly missed as the boy beamed and said "Well it looks great Harry those old glasses you had were terrible."

"Ron!" Hermione screeched

"No, no Hermione he's right they were terrible I didn't even see right out of them."

"Oh" she simply said more subdued

"Which is why they were the first thing I got when I finally left the Dursleys. For good this time." Harry said with a bit of a smile at the end

"What do you mean for good Harry?" Hermione asked quickly although Ron looked confused too.

"I mean I won't ever be going back there they are no longer my guardians."

"What!" and "About time" were the two immediate responses

"Ron what do you mean about time? Harry why would they no longer be your guardians? Who is looking after you? Where have you been staying?" Hermione said quickly obviously very concerned nearly hyperventilating

"Calm down Hermione …take deep breathes that's it in and out it going to be ok." Harry said as calmly as he could and fortunately she listened because he didn't need her passing out in another fit of excitement like she had last year on the first day they covered the summoning charm.

"Alright Hermione I need you to listen and not get mad alright?"

Hermione who by now was breathing fine said "Harry you know that never works right? I mean you might as well just explain without it."

Harry flushed a bit "Right…well there is no easy way to say this but I might have been lying to you well both of you but mainly you Hermione about how badly my relatives treated me, especially when I was younger."  
Immediately he wished he had phrased that better or simply lied because she literally screamed "YOU WHAT?" at the top of her lungs then continued before Harry's hearing could recover by adding "Are you saying they actually abused you?! Why would you keep that from me? From us? Wait no you said …RON!"

The flabbergasted boy flinched

"Did you know about this? Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione was standing now glaring down at both of them and Harry reached for his wand for a second on instinct again. Then he remembered this was his friend so instead he stood up and pushed her away from Ron and with great difficulty back into her seat.

"That's enough Hermione calm down Ron didn't know much more than you did. Just that they put bars on my window the summer after 1st year and I told him not to say anything."

"That does-" she started only for Ron to cut her off

"Well that's not entirely true mate I thought there was a good chance you were hiding more than you would let on. In fact all of the boys in our dorm did … you know because of the" he flicked his eyes over to Hermione clearly nervous but Harry nodded and let him continue "because of the scars mate."

Harry sighed and Hermione asked "Scars what scars? Harry you've only got the one scar don't you?" She paused for second and really examined his forehead "Although where is the one on your forehead? Also Harry you really need to cut your hair."

"Hermione can we just focus on one thing at a time please?" Harry said tiredly but on the inside he was a bit nervous about if they would accept the lie about why his scar had faded. Dumbledore did eventually although the old man had been extremely reluctant to do so but he didn't once seem to consider the truth of what happened.

The girl turned a bit red then said "Right sorry, Um scars, right scars what did he mean Harry do you have other scars? Oh merlin they didn't…" She gasped realizing what had happened.

Harry nodded his expression turned grave "They…they did Hermione I have several scars on my back from my supposed uncle hitting me with various things but mainly a belt. They both …well they both had no problems with trying to beat the magic out of me growing up. It wasn't until I got into Hogwarts that they finally stopped afraid I'd turn them into pigs or something. That's why I ran away this time they tried to attack me again."

Hermione was clearly in shock and Harry could tell she was about to cry. Harry turned to Ron and he looked extremely angry at who Harry wasn't quite sure, it could be Harry for not saying anything, it was probably his relatives for being arseholes, but it could also be Ron himself for not looking into it more. Harry was afraid to ask honestly and didn't really know how to continue.

"But you can't use magic outside of school" Hermione said her voice cracking.

Harry gave a small laugh to that very Hermione response "Yeah but they didn't know that. My aunt seemed to have forgotten my Mum couldn't do magic at home during the summers and no way was I reminding her or my uncle. I had a close call before second year when an owl was sent to my house warning me against using magic because of Dobby."

"You… that …he…they…urgh" Hermione finally gave up trying to hold back her tears and they fell quickly until she was completely sobbing.

"Hey Hermione come on it alri" Harry started placing his hand on her leg

"Don't you dare say it's alright!" Ron roared "What they did wasn't 'alright' even I know that!"

"Ron come on." Harry pleaded "It wasn't that bad, at least not since I got magic." He said quietly

"That doesn't make it better." Ron insisted hotly "You should've stayed with me and my family Harry not gone back to those…those…those filthy muggles!"

Hermione sobbed a bit harder either at Ron's rage or that she probably could've taken him in too.

Harry sighed he knew this wasn't going to be easy but he had hoped somehow that well … he wasn't really sure what reaction he had hoped for. He was happy his friends cared but he didn't want them to feel guilty, he needed to try to fix that at least.

"Look neither of you knew and that's not your fault I didn't want you to know and um look it's alright now I'm away from them and I'm never going back!"

"Damn right you're not" Ron muttered hotly then went back to stewing probably thinking about killing them.

"Why Harry?" Hermione said

"Why what Mione?" Harry asked cautiously

"Why didn't you tell us?" she said finally meeting his gaze still lightly crying. Fortunately she didn't really wear makeup so only her puffy red eyes were there to make his heart ache.

"I…"

"Did you not trust us?" she said crossly

"NO! No, it …it isn't like that. I just … ugh… I just didn't want you to pity me. To think I'm so sad orphan who is also abused by the only family he had left!" Harry said quietly looking down unable able to look either of them in the eyes.

"Bollocks!" Ron shouted

"Ronald!" Hermione said hotly

Ron ignored her "Harry that's Bollocks and you know it they aren't the only family you have left we are!" the boy declared resolutely

"Ron…?" Harry questioned

"After all we've been through together don't think that makes us closer than any family could ever be I mean you both have saved my life several times."

"Oh Ron…" Hermione said sweetly "You know he's right Harry we've all saved each other several times. We even all became friends because you both saved me from that troll. Something I'll always be thankful for which is why I can say I love you both so much, so come here." Hermione declared and threw herself onto Ron and Harry who struggled to catch the emotional girl.

"See mate you've got us forever and always so please remember that next time you do something stupid and end up in a tight spot because we're with you till the end. Which hopefully will be after Hogwarts." Ron joked from the other side of Hermione's bushy hair.

"I…I…I'll try I promise because you're right Ron you two are my family. The only ones I got left!" Harry said as he squeezed Hermione's sobbing form a bit tighter for once feeling at ease in an embrace.

Eventually after several more minutes of hugging and soothing words, from both Harry and Ron, Hermione calmed down and returned to her seat. As she was wiping her eyes she finally got back to her interrogation of Harry's summer namely where he was staying and who was he with.

"Well I was actually staying alone …wait don't freak out Hermione" he said trying to stop her obvious rant about his age and safety.

"I wasn't totally alone I had a house elf as company and Dumbledore started dropping by after he found me."

Hermione looked annoyed when he mentioned the house elf clearly still irritated by how wizards had subjugated the creatures but to her credit she didn't go on a rant this time. Instead she said "Dumbledore found you?"

"Yes well you know how I told you he set up wards tied to me and my 'relatives'?"

She and Ron nodded

"Well he was able to tell they had fallen shortly after I left. Apparently I had somehow magically disowned them as family when I left which caused them to fall. Anyway he tracked me down and you know what he tried to do?" Harry asked rhetorically

They didn't even get a chance to shake their heads

"He tried to make me go back trying to convince me it 'was for the best' and that 'their family'. Well needless to say I wasn't going back and he nearly tried to force me to go with him but I simply told him I'd leave again. So he left and kept coming back repeatedly until eventually he must have gotten fed up because he got the ministry involved and they tried to force me to leave."

"Wait Harry where were you staying anyway mate?" Ron cut in confused

Harry blushed a bit "Oh right forgot…I was staying at Sirius' house."

"Sirius had a house? And how were you staying there?" Hermione asked

"Well technically it was his family's house which he inherited when his grandfather died while Sirius was in prison. As to how I got it Sirius didn't want any of his things going his family so before he got thrown in prison he made a will that made me, his godson, the main recipient of everything."

Hermione and Ron gaped at him

"Ha yeah that was my reaction too but it gets crazier apparently Sirius thought he had been thrown out of the Black family and lost the inheritance before he even made his will. So he thought he would just me giving me his personal wealth and possessions. Apparently though his grandfather either forgot to remove him from being the next head of house Black when his own son died before him or just decided against it because you're looking at the current head of house Black!"

"WHAT!" they both said simultaneously

"Harry you're a Black!" Ron practically hissed out before Hermione could say anything.

"No…no I'm just head of the house I'm still Harry Potter."

"Oh thank merlin you don't want to be a Black mate they're awful!"

"Well they weren't all awful, there was Sirius at least." Harry said defensively while glaring at the boy

"Alright … alright calm down Harry."

"Sorry…" Harry said sheepishly "Just miss him still…"

"Right sorry mate…" Ron said awkwardly

"Harry do you want to talk" Hermione began while leaning forward a bit and placing a hand on his leg.

"NO!" Harry said quickly and Hermione scrambled back in shock banging her head on the seat "Oh I'm sorry Mione, you alright?"

Hermione rubbed the back of her head before getting out "Yeah …yeah its alright Harry I'll be fine, but you don't seem to be…" Hermione said leaving it hanging

Harry sighed "You … you might be right but I can't talk about it not now let's just get back on track ok?"

Hermione looked at his uncomfortable expression and nodded "But we will get back to soon you understand Potter?"

"Right…" Harry said nervously "Where were we?"

"You were telling us how you became head of house Black one of the worst houses ever." Ron said a bit bitterly

"Ron!" Hermione screeched

"What? You know its true Hermione I know you read all about the surviving former noble houses our second year because you went on for weeks about it."

"Well yes but"

"Then you know all the horrible things they did during the Wizard council days?"

"Yes but Ron you can't just insult Harry's family like that." Hermione said furiously

"Oh … right … sorry mate." Ron said embarrassed again

"No it's alright mate" Harry said a bit amused "And it's alright Hermione I don't mind I know what house Black did in the past was horrible. I probably know more than either of you honestly at this point and while I'm not exactly happy about it I can't really do anything either." He said with a shrug.

"Right well I suppose it doesn't really matter since you're not really Black anyway?" Ron said.

"Not that it would be a bad thing if you were" Hermione said quickly

Harry laughed "It's alright guys I get it they have always been a pretty dark house but no worries Ron I don't plan to follow in their footsteps any time soon."

"Good…" Ron said and Hermione glared at him "I mean yeah mate its fine"

Hermione rolled her eyes then said "So Harry you were staying at a house owned by House black then?"

Harry surprised by the change back to the original topic blanked for a second then said "Um yeah… I mean yeah it was called Grimmauld Place apparently it was the Blacks primary residence in Britain they've got other places across the world though kind of crazy really."

Hermione just nodded and said "So what did you mean Dumbledore tried to get the ministry to kick you out then?"

"Oh well apparently the ministry or well the minister was under the impression that everything house Black had was supposed to go to Narcissa Malfoy."

"What as in Draco's mum?!" Ron screamed

"Yeah, Yeah I know apparently she is a Black by birth the minster thought or well maybe was convinced by Lucius that some woman named Bellatrix Lestrange was next in line for the Black headship but she is in prison for life for torturing Neville's parents and being a death eater! So the minister or well Lucius thought Narcissa was going to get the headship once Bellatrix and Sirius died because he didn't know Sirius already had a will." Harry said chuckling a bit "So I inherited all of the Black's money and properties that Malfoy probably thought was going to be his one day!"

Harry burst out laughing as he finished and after a moment Ron did too while Hermione just smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Mate that basically makes up for you being head of house Black right there! Just the thought of Malfoy's face when he found out is priceless" Ron said then descended into laughter once again.

"I know I wish I could've seen it. I'd have given half of the Black fortune away for just a glimpse of his reaction when he found out I got it all!" Harry said before also laughing again.

"You two are unbelievable it's not that funny!" Hermione said seriously

Ron and Harry stared at her in shock as she glared at them both before she suddenly smirked and said "But it is the pretty funny." Then she too started laughing causing all the two boys to start laughing again.

Of course it was Hermione that calmed down first and as she finished chuckling she said "Well maybe he won't be as arrogant anymore."

Again the two boys stared at her then started laughing again this time even more uproariously.

"Yeah Hermione and the Slytherins are going to all be nice to us this year" Ron said between chortles

"Ha yeah Hermione I think we all know Malfoy will be a prat till the day he dies." Harry said.

"You're right, you're right but we can always dream can't we?" Hermione said

"I don't know Mione almost sounds like a nightmare." Ron said and started laughing again but Harry tensed up and his laughter died off.

"Right a nightmare" he said trying to still sound gleeful

Ron didn't seem to notice still chuckling but Hermione gave him a look so Harry continued before she could say anything "Anyway yeah I eventually was able to prove Sirius' will made me his heir to his wealth and the Black headship. Fortunately I had a copy of the will Sirius left the goblins, which is how I found out I was head in the first place. Of course that didn't solve everything Fudge had to confirm the wills of Cygnus, Sirius' grandfather, and Sirius were valid and filed with the ministry. Even once he confirmed that both he and Dumbledore still tried to make me go back to the Dursleys. So I sort of made a deal with them…"

"A deal?" Hermione asked once again serious

"Yes well I told them both just how horrible it was growing up there and they both seemed rather shocked honestly. I … I sort of assumed at least Dumbledore knew it was worse than I had let on when I begged him not to send me back. That was my mistake for believing the greatest wizard of our time was infallible."

"Oh Harry no you can't do that don't go beating yourself up about anything to do with those horrible people and there is nothing wrong with believing in the headmaster he is a great wizard."

"I don't know Hermione surely he should've at least asked why I hated it there so much shouldn't he?"

"I …well …yes, he never did?" Hermione asked confused

"Not once"

"Blimey maybe he is a bit madder than we all thought" said Ron

Harry and Hermione looked at Ron curiously

"I just mean we all knew he was strange at least but maybe he is starting to actually lose it up there if he was just ignoring things like that. It happened to my great aunt Mabel at around 140 years old she just started talking non-sense and eventually didn't recognize anyone."

"Or maybe he just assumed you really just liked the castle and using magic Harry. Maybe he just thought you were trying to say you hated your relatives as an excuse to stay." Hermione added a bit desperately.

"I don't know, I just don't know I never asked him I just told him and Fudge if they sent me back I would run away again only this time I'd go to the papers and tell them that they both had forced me back there."

Both his friend stared at him in shock before Hermione started saying

"That's …That's"

"Brilliant!" Ron finished enthusiastically

"What no that's blackmail Ronald!" Hermione said incredulously "I can't believe you'd do that Harry!"

Harry shrugged "I wasn't going back no matter what and they needed to know that. Honestly I might not have needed to say it at all but after I finished explaining how horrible the Dursleys were it just sort of came to me and I said it without thinking." He finished with a bit of a blush.

"Ugh…Why is it you come up with the craziest plans when you're in trouble Harry?" she said.

"Hey I do not!" Harry replied

-"No you kind of do mate remember the spiders, or the basilisk, or the-"

"Ok I get it, I get it, maybe some of my plans are a bit … out there." Harry relented

"Yeah they are mate, so what they let you stay by yourself then?" Ron asked

Harry smiled though a bit forced as he prepared to lie a little "Yep and it was great! No Dursleys, no teachers, nothing. Once I finished cleaning out the house it was even a decent place."

"So what about us mate?" Ron asked

Harry froze and his blood went cold he didn't have a good answer for this and he knew it. Well he didn't have one that wouldn't reveal just how much he struggled the last two months trying to fix his broken mind even now he still had nightmares and the panic attacks had only seemed to have stopped less than a couple weeks ago.

"Harry, Ron's right why didn't you tell us where you were once you got it all sorted out? All Dumbledore would tell us was that you had been found and that you were alright" Hermione said.

Harry knew this question would come up though he just hoped they bought his excuse.

"Well I…I had a lot to take care of a lot, you see there is one more thing I haven't told you both yet." He paused looking at his friends curious faces and hoped they bought this half-truth.

"Well go on" Ron said impatiently

"I convinced or well blackmailed, as Hermione put it, the minister and Fudge to let me stay by myself by emancipating me!"

"What!" they both said again

"Yeah I got them to make me an emancipated minor so that I wouldn't need the Dursleys or anyone else to take care of any legal or permission based things. But also so they couldn't try to force me back there later, unfortunately what I didn't realize was that I was going to have a lot of work to do once I was emancipated. Part of it was legal work and part of it was magical things I needed to learn about both the Potter and Black families very quickly. Like the family history of each or some obscure rituals I had to prefer to stay head of house Black."

"I …I …I'm shocked Harry if I didn't know better I'd say that was absolutely Slythering of you" Hermione said in disbelief "I can't believe you blackmailed them into emancipating you. Also I get you were busy with all that but you couldn't send one owl?"

Harry internally winced wishing his friend wasn't so smart sometimes. "I'm …I'm sorry Hermione you're right I should've sent something, to you both. It just slipped my mind most of the time and whenever I did remember I wouldn't know where to start" Harry said again partially lying.

Hermione looked at a loss unsure if she should press him more but Ron cut in.

"I understand, not sure I would've believed you if you tried to write all this in a letter." He said with a bit of a laugh then continued "But now that you're emancipated does that mean you can use magic whenever you want?"

Hermione shook her head "No that's an international law Ron you need to be 17 to use magic anywhere the ministry making Harry emancipated wouldn't superseded that. Also I suppose you're right Ron this would've been a lot to take in. But Harry if you ever disappear again please just let us know you're alright if you can, please." Hermione begged

"Ha…I'll do my best Hermione, but hopefully this will be the last time." Harry said sincerely

"Alright, alright enough about me what did I miss? You two arrived together didn't you? What were you doing at the Weasleys Hermione?"

"You didn't even read our letters? You really were busy then mate."

"Yes Ron we already went over that you missed it." Hermione said exasperated

"Well how could I have that Mione it's like you assume that everyone knows what you do all the time."

"I do not, I'll have you know…"

Harry started to tune his two bickering friends out, normally he would be annoyed they had started another argument over nothing but today he was just happy to be with them again. He was also happy they were no longer focused in on his summer activities because he didn't want to explain everything to them…well at least not all at once. There was also no chance he was going to explain some things to them, some things he couldn't ever tell them because he shuddered to see their reactions. He knew they would probably be horrified, enraged, and probably disappointed in him if they knew. Handling all that wouldn't be that bad though probably pretty similar to their reactions just now of him disappearing only more of it.

But what he truly feared was them finding out and having to deal with their pity at best or at worst he might spot some glimmer in them that wished he had pulled it off. That they secretly did want him out of their lives and that they would be so much better off if he was. His hand inched toward his wand again intent on making their secret wish come true right here and right now.

Just as he gripped the smooth handle of the wand in his pocket Harry forced himself to use his other hand to stop moving. His eyes swung around wildly glancing at his friends faces for any indication they had seen his moment of weakness. Fortunately they still seemed absorbed in their own argument something about homework now. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and glanced out the window at the rolling country side. The green landscape only interrupted by the occasional home or farm as far as he could see. It was so peaceful, a kind of peaceful that Harry deeply hoped he got to experience year. He didn't think he could handle anymore death defying adventures at the place he first thought of as home.

He just wanted to relax, enjoy the year with his friends, and learn some magic. Was that too much to ask for at a magical school? Harry didn't think it was but every year some mystery popped up and he was dragged into it. Why couldn't the universe pick on someone else? Harry might not be a curse, like that voice in his head still said sometimes, but he was certain then that he was cursed. How else could you explain that at the very moment he was hoping for a quiet year a pissed off blond opened the compartment door. That irritating blond would give the first hints this year, like all the others, would not be the normal quiet year Harry hoped for.

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**A/N: Hope you liked the chapter remember any changes to canon are likely intentional. Also some of you might have noticed I said House Black was a former noble house because I'm not doing noble houses. As far as I can remember in canon there isn't a reason to actually assume they have noble houses during Harry's time but my guess is that some houses used to be noble and I'll be expanding on that some in the future. **


	8. Chapter 8: Once and Forever Home

**A/N: Yeah so this took so long I wasn't sick or anything just had writers block. In the end you get this and it isn't even that long or good sorry but I've got to move past this stupid block somehow. Also yes I really did do the spiderman thing and get Home into the chapter title again.**

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Dealing with Draco Malfoy on the train had become a yearly occurrence for Harry and his group of friends so he hadn't been particularly surprised when the boy had thrown open his compartment's door. Nor had he at all been surprised to see just how angry the blond pounce was upon spotting Harry considering what Harry had gained this summer, in Malfoy's mind from him. He had least of all been surprised by the argument and name calling that began less than a second later as the boy went on and on about his supposed superiority and rights.

For his part Harry had followed their little song and dance to the letter reminding the irritating prick how far his supposed superiority had gotten him and his family. In short nowhere because Harry and his friends had beaten the boy time and again at Hogwarts and beyond. Lastly he had stated that there would be no reality in which Malfoy or his family would ever get a penny of the Black fortune. He had thought that at least would send Draco sputtering in rage and he would say his oft spoken line that his father would hear of this! Then he would slink away to bother them all again later.

Instead Draco had finally surprised Harry and had not retreated immediately after Harry's proclamation instead he had decided to get the last word in on the conversation to save face if nothing else. He had dangled a bit of information in front of him and his friends just to show that his family connections were in fact superior to Ron's. It really hadn't been much but even Harry had to admit that it was the most cunning Malfoy had demonstrated in while. Knowing he could irritate all three of them with a mystery that only he knew the answer to was either brilliant or the boy had gotten lucky.

Still Draco didn't even manage to get the last word because Ron insulted him on his way out about his father and friends being death eater scum that had ruined the world cup. That of course didn't need to be explained to Harry who had seen the news from the Diagon Times he was now subscribed too. But what was interesting was when Ron had explained he and his family had been there, something Harry would've known if he had read Ron's letters all the way through he had thought to himself.

He wasn't worried about that now though as he exited the express and spotted the grand castle on the hill a short distance away lit up only by an uncountable number of candles from within and an even more uncountable number of stars from above, he was awe struck. The sight of the old magical castle nearly brought the boy to tears every time he saw it after a summer away. A summer away from home that is because without a doubt in his mind Hogwarts was his home now and always. Despite his joy in seeing his old home though Harry was nervous about entering not only because of years past but because of an uncertain future.

Draco hadn't exactly been clear about what was happening this year but Harry worried that it was going to mean danger for him or more importantly his friends. He didn't want to deal with any more crazy shit that Hogwarts seemed to experience every year but if he did then he really didn't want his friends to get dragged into it too. They had all been through enough death defying adventures to last them a life time and he couldn't imagine the idea of losing them…

Losing them like…like Sirius. He glanced toward the lake he couldn't see the boat house or really even the shore line that lay out of sight beneath the curve of the hills but he knew it was there. He knew Sirius had been reduced to nothing more than a lifeless husk no more than a couple miles away and that he had done nothing to stop them. That demons had sucked his godfather's soul and made a meal out of it.

His eyes were locked on the lake and his breathing had gotten swallower as he lost himself in the memory again when all the sudden he heard-

"Rry? Harry? What are you looking at? Come on I'm starving and you're slowing us down."

Harry glanced to his right spotted Ron just as he finished speaking. He seemed worried but confused like he was looking at a problem that he should know the answer to but couldn't quite solve.

"You alright mate?" he asked concerned

Harry sighed he knew his friend usually meant well but he also knew Ron wouldn't be of much help even if he did want to talk about it. Still Harry was happy the boy was concerned at all it showed he was a good friend and that Ron wasn't as stupid as he acted sometimes. Ron clearly knew Harry wasn't alright he just didn't know how to help.

So instead of saying he had been lost in the memory of his godfather's death Harry simply smiled and replied "Yeah I'm alright Ron, lets catch to Hermione so we can eat huh?"

Ron seemed to struggle for a moment maybe unsure what to say or if he should say anything. Or maybe it was just Harry's imagination because the boy beamed back at him said "Right come on then she's over this way."

As he followed Ron through the crowded platform Harry realized something a bit ironic he was jealous of Ron. Being so tall must be nice and well Harry had barely managed to reach average height this summer for a boy his age. Ron on the other hand had already been a bit tall but now must have shot up 4 or 5 inches so he could see over most student's heads even if they were older.

His musings were interrupted when he noticed the carriages ahead, they were different he was sure of it. He couldn't figure out what it was, it was like when a word is on the tip of your tongue but it continues to escape you. It was only for a moment that he couldn't figure it out but he instantly felt stupid when he did.

Stupid enough to blurt out his first thought "When did we get these?"

He hadn't really meant the question for anyone in particular in fact he hadn't really even realized he had reached his destination. Literally he didn't realize it because next thing he heard was "What are yo-" before bumping into Ron who had apparently stopped in front of him. This sent the gangly boy stumbling forward almost falling flat on his face.

Fortunately he recovered only to round on Harry clearly annoyed and said "What was that for?"

To his right he heard a bit of soft laughter. "Come on it wasn't funny Hermione!" Ron said.

Harry's other best friend disagreed though even as she said "You're … you're right, you're right Ron. Not funny!" she was clearly trying to keep from giggling at the tall but now uncoordinated boy's display of balance.

Harry flushed "I'm sorry Ron I wasn't watching where I was going, bit lost in thought" he said lamely.

"Merlin mate get your head out of the clouds huh."

"Harry what had you so distracted anyway?" Hermione said

"What … oh right when did we get those?" he said gesturing in front some the nearby carriages.

Hermione and Ron followed where his finger pointed and then looked back at him then back at where he pointed then at each other. They seemingly exchanged a look that confused him until Hermione finally spoke.

"Harry do you mean the carriage?" she said a bit strained

"What? What no! Those … those things right there." He said clearly pointing in front of the carriages now so there was no mistaking what he was pointing at.

Hermione and Ron exchanged another look and he got a little more annoyed especially when Ron bluntly asked.

"Mate what are you on about?"

"I'm saying what the bloody hell is pulling the carriages and why?"

Ron and Hermione exchange another look and Harry nearly snapped he was about to demand they stop this prank but then Hermione said "Harry there … there's nothing there."

For a moment he was stunned they both seemed so serious so concerned. They clearly both believed there wasn't anything there and seemed to think he was going mad, was he? He had spent most of the last month only in the company of irritating house elf tied to the house. Had started to lose touch with reality during his time alone? He had thought he had been getting better since his nightmares were more infrequent at least. Still though maybe he was wrong he had to know. He had to know and he had to know now, he couldn't wait his turn to get close he had to know now.

He left Ron and Hermione abruptly without saying anything making a beeline for the nearest carriage already being filled by students. But Harry wasn't interested in them instead he made his way to the front the carriage where the strange beast stood.

It was large and looked like a horse mostly he supposed but it was all wrong like it had been warped. It had sunken in skin that was black and leathery in appearance instead of a horse's fur and there were large wings on its back. But the most disturbing part was the head it was more like a dead skull than a living head really. It's already gaunt appearance was most prevalent there the skin tightly attached to the bone. Lastly it had a sort of beak instead of a snout that completed the terrifying look and if Harry didn't know about magic he probably would've figured it was some sort of cross breed between a bat, a horse, and bird despite the impossibility of it.

The creature stared down at him and snorted a bit and he was sure he felt a brush of air but it could still be part of the hallucination right? Wait if he was hallucinating that would touching it even matter? No no he wasn't hallucinating he thought. He just needed to touch it and make sure it was really there.

Slowly and calmly he reached out toward the terrifying horse-bat beast half expecting it to attack him but it made no such moves. In fact it lowered its head as Harry's hand approached and then finely made contact with its surprisingly soft skin.

He was sure as he pet the boney creature that this was real, very real. He couldn't be imagining this there was no way.

"Mate!" a familiar deep voice called behind him

He turned and found Ron and Hermione and had caught up to him and were clearly even more concerned.

"Harry what are you doing?" Hermione asked softly

He frowned he was sure this … this thing was real it was right here but they still seemed to think he was nuts and couldn't see it. It like magi-. He slapped his forehead, clearly there was magic involved and he felt like a fool for not realizing sooner. Now he just needed to prove it to them-

"Oi you up front, get out of the way and quit petting the air like a loon! Some of us want to get going" He looked up and around the large creature toward the open air carriage which he now realized was full bewildered students. Worse yet they all seemed to be Slytherin students and they all also seemed to think he was crazy.

But he was sure this thing was real it definitely felt real.

"Potter? Is that you? What the bloody hell are you doing?" the same voice that had just yelled at him asked. It was a short rather pretty short brunette girl about his age that after only a moment he recognized.

"Of course it's me" he said maybe a bit to happy for someone who wasn't recognized. "And while it's nice to know my fame is finally starting fade you should probably be able to recognize your classmates shouldn't you Davis? I mean the school isn't that big."

The girl blushed and mumbled something probably about his glasses missing then indignantly said "Whatever would you just get out of the way, you annoying prat some of us have better things to do than deal with whatever crazy shite you're doing already."

Harry was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about but playing dumb to rile up Slytherins was always funny. "What do you mean Davis? When have I ever been involved in anything crazy?"

The girl scoffed "Please Potter we've all heard the rumors, you and your band of morons over there get yourself involved in something crazy every year. Now move already would you?"

Harry smirked "Come on you know you can't believe the Hogwarts rumor mill I'm a perfectly normal student. But sure Davis I'll move, once you prove me wrong."

The annoyed girl frowned even more clearly she was hungry or something and just wanted to get to the castle. "What do you mean Potter? We've got places to be and proving you wrong on every little thing could take all night." Several of the Slytherins laughed at that.

"Harry mate" Ron tried

But Harry cut him off "No I mean you need to prove there is nothing here. Prove that I'm not petting anything."

Davis gave him an exasperated look before sighing and saying "Really Potter?"

Harry simply smiled and nodded

"Fine but you better move once I do."

She stood and moved to lean out the front of the carriage clearly intent on waving her hand expecting to hit nothing but air. Harry subtly stepped out of the way ready expecting his little prank to spook the horse beast into running or at least moving.

Instead he heard "Tracey wait!" and Davis' hand stopped inches away from smacking the beast on the rear end rather hard. Davis turned and glared at the blonde she that she had just been sitting next to. Harry immediately recognized her as well, probably even faster than he recognized Davis because while Davis was pretty this girl was stunning. Well that and his dorm mates might have 'discussed' her at length several times last year.

"What?!" Davis said clearly annoyed pulling Harry from his thoughts.

"As much as I would enjoy watching you try to prove Potter wrong I'm also in this carriage."

"Yeah so? What's the problem?"

She rolled her eyes at Davis "The problem is Potter here is actually right. For once" she finished derisively.

"Hey!" Harry said indignantly

He was ignored as Davis asked "You mean?"

The girl nodded "Yes and it seems Potter here was trying to bait you into smacking it. Move your hand forward a few more inches. Slowly!" she added quickly then gave Harry a bit of a knowing smirk that she had ruined his prank. It was a cute smirk though he thought.

Of course admiring it caused him to miss Davis reaching forward and touching the creatures backside but he didn't miss her reaction as she stumbled away in panic and shouted "AH! What the hell is that?"

Harry of course burst out laughing at her reaction and the immediate tests of three out of four of the other students in the carriage all of which had a similar reaction. The blonde for her part clearly didn't need to test and just looked on mildly amused at best but Harry was pretty sure she was doing her best to keep from laughing at her house mate's confusion too.

As soon as Harry was almost finished laughing though he spotted Ron approaching from the side with Hermione behind him. "What are they-" that was as far as Ron got before he too touched the creature then scrambled away in panic as well.

This caused Harry to burst out laughing again this time at his gangly friend's reaction because he tripped over his own feet trying to back up and ended up on his arse. He was sure he even saw the blonde laugh at that but only for a moment before she covered it quickly putting on a smirk again then looking around clearly trying to see if anyone spotted her.

When she and Harry made eye contact he gave her a smile but seemed to get only a glare in response and for a second he thought the rumors he heard about her were all true and he had imagined the laugh. But then she rolled her eyes and smirked back at him which would have completely surprised him if he didn't personally know the Hogwarts rumor mill was garbage. Instead he was only mildly surprised a Syltherin had smiled at him.

"Harry what is this?" Hermione said pulling his attention away from the pretty blonde. Hermione was also now touching the horse-bat thing but still didn't seem to be able to see it and unlike the others hadn't freaked out or well she hadn't backed away in panic she definitely seemed freaked out.

"Um I don't really know that's why I asked remember?"

"Oh right" the girl said flushing clearly embarrassed then seemed to realize something "Harry I'm sorry I didn'…t"

"It's alright Hermione clearly this thing really is invisible obviously. The real question though is why only Greengrass over there and I are the only ones that can see it?" he said gesturing at the blonde. "Well that and how long have they been pulling the bloody carriages?" he added.

The blonde sighed dramatically "Even when you're right Potter you still don't know anything do you?"

Harry glared at her "I know I'm not crazy at least. Like you all clearly thought."

Greengrass rolled her eyes "I still think you're crazy who comes running up to a carriage to pet a damn thestral?"

At once several people including both Davis and Ron said "A What?" while Hermione of course said "Of course!"

"A thestral huh? Weird name, but it's my first time seeing one and they" he said gesturing to Ron and Hermione "thought I was going mad!" Harry said defending himself. His friends looked abashed at the implication.

"Well you still looked like a damn loon running up to the thing" she said with a shrug. "I mean who comes up to pet a death horse on purpose?"

"A death horse?!" Ron said clearly confused.

"Yes Weasley a death horse as in you need to have seen someone you cared about die to see the thing." Greengrass said in a rather somber tone then looked away maybe a bit upset by something it was hard to tell.

The two other girls in the carriage gasped but Harry didn't think it was in horror because all four of the other Slytherins in the carriage were giving Greengrass concerned looks. Clearly they knew why Greengrass could see the thestral and Harry was sure it was as fun a memory for her as watching Sirius die was for him.

"You have to see…someone…" Ron trailed off clearly a bit shocked then went on probably speaking before thinking again "So if you can see them like Harry can, then you watched someone die too?" Clearly he had missed the subtle hint.

Greengrass bristled at that and gave Ron a real glare one that told Harry where all the rumors came from then said "What?"

Ron now seemed to realize he had overstepped and starting trying to recover saying "I mean uhh, you uhh. That is to say that someone important um…I just mean… uh"

But he instead rambled a bit clearly unsure what to say until the frigid glare of the ice queen shut him up. It was silent for several long seconds and Harry was nearly sure he was going to have to pull his wand to defend his friend.

Instead the pissed blonde eventually said "Yes Weasley I did see someone die."

"Daph"

"I'm fine Astoria sit down" Greengrass commanded the younger sandy blonde girl in the carriage that had moved toward her.

Ron for his part at least knew the best move here and "I'm sorry" but he couldn't look her in eye as he did so clearly terrified of the girl whether it was from her glare or her rumored hexing skills Harry wasn't sure.

Greengrass glared at Ron again for a moment probably thinking that wasn't good enough and if she should actually hex him. She rolled her eyes though and said "Whatever Weasley, let's get out of here. Potter would you please stop petting the damn thestral so we can go already!"

"Right…" Harry said taking a step out of reach of the horse a bit nervous keeping of Greengrasses temper himself.

The thestral started walking as soon as Harry moved out of reach as it headed for the castle. He gave Greengrass a small smile as she rode past before feeling a sudden wave of comradery with her and before he could think he found himself saying "Greengrass I know it probably won't mean much coming from me but for what it's worth I'm sorry for your loss. I know how much it hurts."

The other Slytherins in the carriage looked back at him with obvious looks of shock on their faces. Greengrass though, well Harry wasn't sure how she felt because it seemed she hid her emotions better than her friends and the darkness didn't help him. Still though he could swear he saw something in her eyes. Something, something he wasn't even really sure of because it was for such a fleeting second that he could even make it out. But it was something he thought he recognized.

Then before Harry could ponder it any longer she simply said "I'm sorry for yours as well Potter." After that she was pulled away faster and faster until the carriage was swallowed up by the darkness of the evening and Harry figured he would never know if what he thought he saw was right or not.

That was the longest conversation he had ever had with her after 3 years here outside of class. Despite the schools small size Harry really only spoke with and hung out with people in his own house outside of classes. Sure he had been forced to partner with her several times and likely even would again but the two never spoke much when they were partnered. To be fair though hardly any conversation was had when a professor forced a Gyrfindor and Slytherin to partner together.

So Harry figured he would likely never speak with her again if he hadn't in the last three years and as she rode into the darkness he was just left wondering about the look she gave. Harry figured he would forget about it soon enough though because what did it really matter she hadn't exactly been all that nice in their brief encounter. The best thing that had happened was they had maybe shared a laugh together but still Harry didn't forget that look.

He didn't forget during the carriage ride to the castle in which Hermione listed the many facts she knew about the thestral and how stupid she had been not to think of it earlier. He thought he would forget after the argument between her and Ron about trolls that somehow stemmed from her rant, er lesson, in which Harry had tuned out. Even after playing referee though he found himself wondering if the notorious ice queen also had to keep her friends from bickering he couldn't get her out of his head.

When he got the Great Hall he couldn't help but glance her way every now and then as subtly as he could. Finally though he started to forget when the sorting hat sang its new terrible song for the year. Harry really wished when the founders had made the hat they had made it better at creating songs and given it a better singing voice too! The terrible singing did make Harry forget though all through the sorting of the first years and rare transfer students. He didn't remember once while he ate and joked with his friends about the coming school year.

Instead his only worries returned to Malfoys earlier hints about something. That something was revealed fairly soon after and Harry found himself even more worried than before all thoughts of Greengrass gone now.

"Hogwarts will be host to the Triwizard's tournament!" Dumbledore had proclaimed then gone on to explain how it had been extremely dangerous in the past but had been modified. Harry had at this point had nearly had a panic attack, he didn't trust Dumbledore not after this summer. So a modified dangerous tournament to him just meant a dangerous tournament that was likely to somehow involve him and worse his friends.

Hermione though, bless her, seemed to notice he was on the verge of freaking out and placed a reassuring hand gently on his back and gave him a small hesitant smile. It was enough, maybe just barely, to get himself back under control and he returned the smile with a nod of gratitude.

Even better only moments later Harry went from resignation that this would involve him to possibly the best news of his life when Dumbledore announced a strict age restriction for the tournament of 17. While many protested the restriction like the morons they were not seeing the danger, including the two loudest Fred and George. Harry did his best to keep from crying tears of joy thinking he had somehow just won the lottery and he was going to get a free peaceful year in which some other poor sap could almost die for 'fortune and glory'. While Harry might not trust Dumbledore or even the ministry backing the tournament he didn't think for even a moment they would try to put him in a tournament meant for of age wizards.

Harry let that happiness carry him the rest of the evening cheering up a depressed Ron who also seemed to want his chance to prove himself. Eventually he got him to talk about the Quidditch world cup again which they had discussed on the train after Malfoy left. That seemed to cheer Ron up especially as Dean and Seamus added in their own commentary of the match filling in Harry and Neville on each of Krum's snitch catches and how the Irish chasers still stayed ahead of him and the Bulgarians. They described the third catch to end the match as legendary even for Krum!

They all pointedly ignored the after the match antics of the possible death eaters and eventually settled in for bed after spending a little more time describing their summers. Including Neville's trip to magical Brazil, Seamus' horrible stay with his muggle Grandparents for several weeks, and most interestingly Deans claim to have gotten a blowjob from a girl several years older than any of them. Of course no one believed him but he continued to insist it was true for the rest of the evening.

After Harry spelled his bed curtains and lay back trying to sleep that night he figured this could be a good year. He could work on him and figure out what was wrong…maybe. He just needed a quiet year was all and he would be alright maybe even good if he was really lucky. All he knew was he was glad he avoided whatever non-sense the tournament was surely going to be and maybe it would even be interesting watching someone else avoid death or whatever the tournament threw at them at least.

The last thing he wondered before he fell asleep that night though wasn't something he intended to think about at all. In fact he had forgotten till now all about it but as he drifted off to face another nightmare the last thing he knew he thought about that night were bright blue eyes of Greengrass and what he thought he saw in them. Was she like him?

* * *

**A/N: So yes we finally do meet Daphne for those of you here for that. Interaction is pretty short here and I just try to set up Harry's interest in here but I don't know that it comes across super well. Anyway the only other two things I'll comment on here is Quidditch is dumb. The second is yeah there are going to be sex references and likely a little bit of sex itself but it won't really be erotic or go very far before cutting away because that's not really what the story is about. **

**On Quidditch though why did Rowling make such a dumb sport? Does Rowling hate sports or just not understand how games work and that they need to be balanced. The snitch is not only worth 150 points but also the only match ending option since matches are said to go on for days at times. But in the actual story there is only one time I can remember in which catching the snitch didn't decide the match. Obviously that was the World cup match with Krum and honestly I just don't buy that such a game could exist as is. It is sort of like two separate games are being run at the same time in the same place and one of them barely matters. Oh and the one that barely matters has 12 players and the other has 2. So yeah I modified Quidditch so that I guess the snitch is a bit slower and is caught a total of 3 times for 50 points each to end the game. That is to say the snitch is caught three times total not three times by each seeker. I thought about just a time limit but that doesn't fix the two games problem. This solution I think does and I think the college quidditch teams use something like it but I don't really know I just think someone might have described it to me once. I'm far to lazy to check. Anyway with this solution catching the snitch is much less important so a seeker can also be a chaser at times since turning away and helping the main squad score some points won't just cost your team the match if the snitch is caught once. **


	9. Chapter 9: Foreplay for the Year

**AN: Sorry this took so long writers block and work kept it from progressing much for a while. Anyway only other thing I'd say is if anyone has similar dark thoughts to Harry in this chapter I recommend you consider seeking help. So slight trigger warning I guess the story is probably going to get much darker though so be warned generally.**

* * *

Harry exited the abandoned classroom started making his way back to the Gryffindor common room feeling much better than when he had first entered it a couple hours ago. The nightmare that had awoken him had faded from his mind, plus he always felt a certain amount of unexplainable joy whenever he used magic. He wasn't sure if that joy stemmed from magic itself, the freedom it had given him, or if it was simply fun using it but he supposed it didn't really matter.

Harry had never been one to care that much about the theory and implications of magic the entire time he had been at Hogwarts after all. A summer of isolation and a good bit of studying had improved his respect and understanding for the theoretical side of magic some but it would always be his least favorite aspect of magic. He would always prefer to simply use or at least try to use spells than read about them. So testing out a few of the spells was definitely a good way to kill a few hours in the early morning when he couldn't sleep.

The nightmare hadn't been as bad tonight as it had been the first day he got back at least. He had suspected that he was going to have a bad one that night since it was his first night back where Sirius had died, but he hadn't expected it to be quiet that bad. It had caused him to wake screaming at the top of his lungs for all his roommates to hear had he not charmed his curtains to keep noise in and out. That particular spell he had learned last year after Ron and Seamus both started snoring.

Of course he hadn't been able to sleep any more that night and he ended up wondering the castle for hours under his invisibility cloak. Eventually he had found a particularly well hidden abandoned classroom on the previously restricted third floor of the massive school. He supposed well-hidden wasn't exactly the right word he would actually use for the room, at least not at Hogwarts, it was more out of the way and strange. The only entrance to the room was at the end of a short dead end hallway that looked inconspicuous and seemed to only have an empty broom closet in it.

Something about the hall rubbed Harry wrong though like there was something missing so he had continued past the empty storage closet to examine the wall for a while poking and prodding it only to find nothing. However when he turned around he noticed something, another door or well door knob that was directly opposite the broom closet.

There wasn't really anything else to it just a door knob that blended into the hall and a normal empty classroom collecting dust with a large desk and chair for a teacher and nothing else. It was strange but then again so was Hogwarts. He wasn't sure if he had simply missed it at first or somehow removed some protection keeping it hidden but in the end it seemed worthless so Harry had simply shrugged and moved on keeping note of the room for possible future use and well that future had come rather soon.

Only two nights later he had been woken again plagued by nightmares and decided against just wondering the school aimlessly again. Instead he had chosen to practice some of the spells he was to use this year and some he learned in the Black manor house over the summer.

The well-hidden room seemed to be the perfect place during these early morning hours when he technically was supposed to still be in bed anyway. During normal hours he, and most other students, wouldn't bother to go this far out of the way to practice spells, hell most professors all but encouraged practice in classrooms like this as long as it wasn't in the halls. At night though it was probably best he avoided anywhere Filch or that damn cat which might be roaming about. Even with his cloak it had a habit of seeming to wander in Harry's direction even if it didn't seem to know where he was.

His cloak might be damn near perfect hiding him from sight but Harry had learned the hard way that if he made too much noise then someone will find you anyway. He and his friends had nearly been caught several times now by Filch, and Dumbledore obviously heard him second year in Hagrid's hut. Of course since then he learned a pretty nifty silencing spell that probably took care of that problem while looking up spells to block Seamus and Ron's snoring. But that damn cat either had a damn good nose as he hadn't managed to find a spell to spell to erase his scent yet or it was just luck, bad luck.

He supposed it didn't matter this time as he arrived in front of the entrance of the common room without encountering a soul, even an undead one. He entered the common room after removing his cloak to find it nearly deserted except for a couple of boys he thought were in second year that he didn't know the names of. They didn't even seem to notice his entrance apparently they were too wrapped up in what looked like homework to care.

Harry chuckled quietly to himself as he made his way up to his dorm because he knew he and Ron had probably replicated the scene several times in their second year. Harry wanted to believe he had grown past that and would never be doing homework this early again but well he still hated studying even if he had a new found respect for its results.

Harry had no doubt he had gotten better at magic over the summer a lot better in some ways. He had learned plenty of new spells, old spells seemed to work better too, and he was sure he felt more in touch with his magic now. But he still wouldn't be surprised if he ignored his homework too long again and he and Ron ended up down there with those two first years at apparently 7 in the morning according the clock in his dorm room. Harry might respect the results of studying more now but he still despised it, especially all the theoretical shite.

The dorm room seemed dead to the world when Harry cracked the door open. His roommates seemed to still be asleep and Harry didn't need to have explain where he had been this early in the morning. So he crept past the beds to the attached large bathroom and jumped into the nearest shower. The hot water was certainly soothing this early in the morning, Harry could feel the last of the tension he had from training and the nightmare leaving his body as he cleaned himself. It was so tempting to just stay in there where it was warm and safe forever but eventually, after much more time they he needed to take, he left the sanctuary and finished the rest of his morning routine for the day.

"Harry?" a quiet voice asked as he left the bathroom

He jumped and spun toward the voice wand half drawn from his pants only to find the slightly rotund face of his shyest roommate looking back at him bleary eyed and clearly half asleep. Harry blinked once then twice to be sure it was him before moving his hand away from his wand, glad once again he no longer needed his glasses or else he definitely would've cursed the boy.

"Merlin, Neville you scared me. Thought I was the only one up this early." Harry said hoping the dim light of the room would hide his embarrassment.

Neville looked at him slightly confused before asking "What … what time is it?"

"It's um quarter past 7 mate you'll need to get up soon but you can sleep a little more if you want." Harry said glancing while glancing at rooms clock.

"Right I'll just" yawn "I'll just do that then…" Neville said tiredly before laying his head back down and quickly moving back toward dream land.

Harry quietly chuckled and finished preparing for the day before leaving as silently as he came in.

Nearly an hour later Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor house table alongside several of his quidditch teammates discussing the upcoming English league season. He was of the opinion that his favorite team the Appleby Arrows had a real shot this year of course. Once Gryffindor table was nearly full Harry started to wonder where his friends were, thinking if they didn't get here soon they'd miss breakfast. In fact he noticed just then that all his dorm mates in Gryffindor seemed to be missing. He noticed Kellah and Fay, two of the girls in his year, talking seat further down the table.

Harry called out to them to see if they had seen his dorm mates or Hermione but they answered back over the lively noise of the great hall they hadn't seen them. Harry was about to head back to the dorms to look for them when he saw them both Ron and Hermione appear at the entrance to the hall with Hermione leading a clearly irritated Ron by the arm. It was immediately clear Ron was angry and Harry had pretty good idea of why Ron was glaring at the entirety of Slytherin table. Most of their table were now laughing at the four Gyriffindor boys with Green and silver hair after all.

As they approached and took seats to his left Harry could hear what they were saying.

"lling you Hermione it must have been them why would my brothers do it I haven't done anything to piss them off… At least not recently … I think. Plus they would go with pink or something not this!" Ron said gesturing wilding around his head

"Ron for the last time it wasn't Draco and the 'rest of those no good Slytherins' as you put it. And I'm not saying it was your brothers just that it was obviously someone in Gryffindor who didn't have to sneak into our common room just to set up some prank."

"So you were pranked then?" Harry asked

"Harry there you are!"

Harry rolled his eyes "Yes well spotted Ron now are you going to explain what happened?"

"You're never going to believe it mate someone managed to set up some kind of paint prank on a whole bunch of us in the common room."

"A paint bomb?" Harry thinking of the similar muggle prank.

"Yep something like that, someone got it to land on Dean, Seamus, Neville, and me as we entered the common room. We were completely covered in green and silver paint head to toe and had to go change or you know McGonagall would've killed us. We managed to get it off our skin and clothes but it won't come out of our hair!"

"Wait it just got everyone in our dorm except me?"

"Well Pavarti, Lavender, and I were sitting nearby and both of them claimed to have gotten some on their shoes but I think they both just wanted to go put on more make up. I certainly didn't find any paint on me in any case, but yes it was seemingly all your dorm mates Harry. You were very lucky to have left early but if I had to guess only one of them was the target and the rest were just unlucky."

"What do you mean?"

"Well like I was telling Ron the ward trap only activated when those four came down the stairs to the common room so clearly it was just meant for one of them."

Harry nodded "Yeah I suppose that makes sense. So you two were arguing about who it was then?"

"That's righ-" Hermione started only to get cut off by Ron with his mouth still full.

"It was Malfoy I'm telling you. Who else would make my hair be green and silver?"

"Eww, Ronald I've told you a hundred times swallow before you speak that's gross." Hermione's disgust was obviously displayed on her face scrunched up much like she had just bit a lemon and had a furball at the same time.

Harry smirked and rolled his eyes at his friend's usual terrible table manners and Hermione's constant attempts to fix them. He often wondered if she would ever make any progress or realize it was probably pointless.

"Also for the last time it can't be Malfoy how could he have gotten into the common room?"

"Well I don't know but who else would do this to me?" Ron exclaimed fortunately after swallowing this time.

"He has got a point there Hermione. Malfoy might not be able to get in but he is the most likely person to do this. Fred and George probably would've made his hair pink or something, doubt they'd ever go for green and silver."

"That's what I said." Ron said before taking another bite

Hermione sighed "I know that but we can't just assume it was Malfoy without any proof."

"Why not? He accuses us of things all the time without any proof." Ron said

"Because it isn't right Ronald that's why." Hermione huffed

Harry smirked at Ron and rolled his eyes it seemed Hermione's crusade for justice would never cease. Ron smirked back as Hermione started ranting about the needing evidence and assumptions based on past behavior were wrong.

Fortunately for the two of them Hermione was soon cut off several minutes later.

"that's why you should never assume-"

"Mrs. Granger I'm sure your discussion is very important but I need to have word with Mr. Potter about the remedial ancient runes class he will be starting today." Came the voice of their head of house professor McGonagall.

Harry noticed Ron grimace at the mention of the class, needless to say when he had found out Harry had switched out of divination without him he hadn't been happy. It had led to a minor argument that only ended when Harry told Ron he simply couldn't stand Trelawney predicting his death all the time.

Quietly he thought it had already happened once and he feared it might happen again. It would be like remembering the event over and over every time she mentioned his impending doom. Harry didn't say any of that but he didn't think he would be able to handle it either so he was glad Ron had accepted his reasoning even if he was still annoyed.

"Mr. Potter you appear to be done with your breakfast if you could please follow me?"

"Oh of course professor, I'll see you both in charms huh?"

"See you Harry!"

"Soe yeu"

"Ron once again that's disgusting swallow then talk"

Harry laughed and followed the strict witch out of the great hall up a flight of stairs to the witch's office. Inside the room was decorated with a few Gryffindor banners and trophies from the Hogwarts Quidditch cup as well as British Inter-school cup. Both of which Harry had helped win last year causing him to smile fondly especially as he remembered beating Manchester Magic Academy last year in the finals of the inter-school cup. He had probably been one of the most upset when he had found out Hogwarts wouldn't be competing against the other English schools this year because of the tournament.

McGonagall caught his eye as admiring the trophies before saying "I do so enjoy looking at them too, I hope you and the rest of the team will be able to get us the tournament cup this year."

Harry only smiled and gave a nod back he hopped so too but was definitely unsure after all he would be competing against Victor Krum.

Well he and the other house teams were to compete against the Drumstrang and Beauxbatons teams being created from their school's delegations. Apparently in the past only three tasks were held but it seemed that wasn't enough for the organizers this time. The quidditch matches along with a series of other competitions that didn't impact the winner of the main tournament itself would be held. Some competitions were big and some small, Dumbledore had just said the additional events were meant to "foster a great sense of comradery and learning between the three schools." Harry was pretty sure it was because just three tasks over a whole year were too boring.

Harry supposed he couldn't complain too much he just wanted to fly but Victor Krum would be coming with Drumstrang if the rumors were right so he wasn't sure Gryffindor could win.

McGonagall cleared her throat before handing Harry a stack of papers.

"This Mr. Potter is the test you took with professor Babbling the other night to determine your current proficiency in runes."

Harry took the paper and was shocked by the grade seeing as it was an A for Acceptable meaning he passed.

"I can see from your slack jaw Mr. Potter you too didn't expect to do this well on the test since you didn't take runes last year. I'd accuse you of using Mrs. Grangers answers from her final but I know first that she wouldn't help you and second that you wouldn't cheat … at least not on a test like this."

Harry only nodded in response shuffling through his paper slightly panicking about if she knew Harry and Ron had used a few of the twin's previous assignments for help. Not to mention the number of times Hermione had helped them.

She continued on seemingly unaware though "That leads me and professor Babbling to the conclusion that you might have some latent talent for the subject Mr. Potter. Now normally remedial runes along with all of the remedial courses here are meant to move at a faster pace and cram the essentials of the year missed in the subject into your head in as short a time as possible. The purpose of this accelerated plan is to get you to essentially take a full year's class in one semester then another in the next semester. This allows sixth years to pick up the subject for the first two years then take Runes 3 their final year to sit an OWL for the subject. Or for students like you to switch in their fourth year and sit your OWL as normal in your fifth year."

Harry looked up from his papers and met her eyes for a moment before saying. "Normally, professor?"

McGonagall seemed to nearly answer but then she paused and seemed to simply stare at him for a moment.

Harry shifted uncomfortably before looking away only to look back at her as she slightly shook her head back and forth. "I apologize Mr. Potter I got lost in a memory for a moment. I'm still not used to seeing you in these new um … contracts"

"Contacts professor" Harry said using the lie he had begun telling everyone including McGonagall when she asked him about the lack of glasses when delivering his schedule.

"right … contacts, it's just without them I can see your eyes so much more clearly and well I and everyone else have told you how remarkably similar to your mother's they are. Just like hers they are incredibly vibrant so I suppose I got lost in a memory for second of her asking me a similar question."

Harry smiled in response thinking about his mother and how nice it was to share that with her at least. Though he wished he had gotten her reported smarts as well, he was pretty sure he hadn't considering his grades were average.

"It's alright professor I understand if it's a bit of an adjustment. It has been for me too…the contacts I mean that is" he said quickly although he had really meant whole thing around it including his scar.

Something she had also grilled him about, well her and just about anyone else that had noticed. He had simply told most people it had healed with a shrug and ignored any further questions so far. Though he had told his close friends and McGonagall the same lie he had told Dumbledore about it being destroyed seemingly as a result of the wards around his former residence collapsing around him.

Harry honestly had no idea if that was possible but it seemed no one really did. Harry already knew from Dumbledore that the wards that were there had been strong and different from most. So he was extremely fortunate that before Dumbledore found him at Grimmauld place Harry was already studying runes and wards.

He had needed a basic understanding of wards to control of the ones at Grimmauld place that automatically bonded with him when he entered so he could fix the decaying house and remove a particularly annoying portrait. Part of the introduction into the subject of course included warnings about the instability wards. Apparently unstable wards frequently collapsed and typically lead to one of three different effects.

The most common being nothing happened except the loss of the wards, the next most common being an explosion of varying size somewhere in the wards, or in extremely rare case sometimes extremely strange effects occurred when wards collapsed.

The book cited an example from 1814 or 1815 maybe, in which a families wards collapsed and when finally noticed the investigators initially found no trace of the family. Instead they found 4 rabbits in the house, two adult and two children. Well it was quickly realized with several spells these bunnies had magic and were in fact the missing family.

However try as they might no one could turn them back no matter what they tried. Fortunately for the family about a year after their wards had collapsed the adults changed back this was followed a few weeks later by the children. It was concluded that their natural magic had finally eroded enough of the wards magic and changed them back following the typical thinking of transfiguration centered on Merlin's law that objects return to their original shape once the magic is gone.

Harry had taken advantage of the story once he realized the night he ran away he had felt the wards collapse on him because it was similar to the feeling of bonding with the Grimmauld place wards. So Harry did a little more research and settled on the story that the wards collapsing around him as he left had purged the dark magic from his forehead. Something that Dumbledore after much convincing had seemed to buy once Harry had told him for about the third time while looking him in the eyes.

"Mr. Potter!" Harry looked up to meet a fairly annoyed McGonagall.

He flushed immediately "Ah sorry professor I seem to have also gotten lost in my thoughts won't happen again" he said flashing the old witch a grin.

She shook her head in response seemingly exasperated with this but he could see the ghost of a smile there.

"See that it doesn't Mr. Potter we don't have much time left before classes and we still haven't gotten to the main subject of the meeting. Now as I was saying normally you would attend the remedial course this year and join the 3rd course next year. However your results of an acceptable on the remedial entry test indicate that might not be necessary."

"What do you mean professor? Are you saying I could join the 2nd course instead?"

McGonagall nodded "That is correct Mr. Potter. An acceptable on the exam indicates you did some serious studying over the summer to catch up with your peers. You should be extremely proud."

Harry could tell he blushed a bit from the praise but was struck by a thought "professor I only got an acceptable though, that isn't really that good."

McGonagall sighed before saying "that's true you only barely passed really if I'm honest."

Harry visibly deflated for second before she said "Still you should be proud you are the only one that took the introductory remedial test this year that passed at all. Usually there are a two to three but this year it is just you."

That brought Harry's mood back up a bit but he was still unsure about jumping into the second year class he had barely passed after all.

"Professor do I have to take the second year class? If I barely passed I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up if I do that."

"Indeed that might be the case Mr. Potter in years past other students jumping ahead with an A or even an EE at times have struggled. However we at Hogwarts have come up with an adequate solution to the problem. You will be paired by Professor Babbling with a partner for the first semester of the course to keep you on track and tutor you."

Harry considered this, a tutor would be great and since Hermione was in the course he figured he could convince the professor to assign Hermione as his tutor. She was both brilliant and in Gryffindor so it would probably be easier than casting a lumos charm. Harry was pretty sure with her help he could keep up with the course, sure it had made his headache a few times over the summer but he was also pretty good at it apparently.

"Well professor if that's the case then I think I can handle the jump just fine."

"Are you sure Mr. Potter, I know it is going to be quite a busy year for everyone with both the main tournament and side competitions. I don't want you getting overwhelmed so there is no shame in sticking with the remedial course."

For a moment Harry hesitated but really the only part of the tournament that concerned Harry at the moment was quidditch and he had managed his schedule in years past with more games than this. Plus as much as he loved Oliver Wood the man had been mad about how long and how often they practiced. He had a feeling Angelina would at least keep the practices on schedule. Plus the tournament didn't start till November basically so he had two full months to get used to the class then he could decide if he wanted to compete in anything else.

"I think I can do it professor I'm not planning to do much besides quidditch this year anyway."

"I hope that includes none of your usual antics involving finding trouble as well Mr. Potter" she said with a wry grin.

Harry gave a small chuckle at that along with the professor.

"Well I never go seeking it professor, it just sort of comes to me usually" he said somberly.

The grin faded from the withes face "Yes I suppose it does Mr. Potter. Very well I'll send Professor Babbling ahead of you to let her know you will be there shortly. "

"Professor?"

"Your first class is less than 20 minutes from now Mr. Potter. Here is your adjusted schedule" she said sliding a paper across the table that Harry quickly scanned.

"What!? I don't have any of my books or supplies for runes in my bag. The remedial class wasn't meant to meet again till tomorrow." Harry said while gesturing toward his bag wildly.

"I assumed as much Mr. Potter which is why this note I'm writing will include you might be slightly late on account of that. Now off you go then back to the dorm to collect your supplies then straight to class. Same room as the remedial class so you will have no trouble finding it."

"Ah…uh of course professor I better get going."

McGonagall smirked as he gathered his things. Just as he opened the door she stopped him once more though.

"Just a moment Mr. Potter" she said before animating her note into a paper airplane that took off out the door presumably toward professor Babbling. Harry was again amazed by the simple yet brilliant display of new magic.

She smiled at him once again then said "Good luck this year in your new class Mr. Potter and in the tournament I'm sure you will help bring home the cup for Gryffindor once again."

He smiled back at her and nodded before turning to go once again.

"Harry" he paused in the doorway "I think Lily would immensely proud of you today I seem to remember runes as one of her favorite subjects."

Harry didn't look back at McGonagall this time he didn't want her to see his face she might be able to tell he didn't agree with her then. After all what mother would be proud of a son who was such a coward he had tried to kill himself.

Still he needed to act the part "I hope so professor. I really do hope she would be proud of me" and that at least was the truth even if Harry doubted she would be. Without a moment to let her respond Harry walked out the door shutting it behind him hurrying back toward the dorms.

On the way back Harry wondered if this the right choice after all it wouldn't be easy to simply jump in like this. He was really banking on Hermione being able to teach him everything he missed otherwise he might start failing.

He had felt similarly overwhelmed the other night during the announcement of the tournament which had met Harry with a lot of emotions at the same time. After annoyance from finding out quidditch wouldn't be normal he had been rather nervous that he would have to be involved in the 'deadly games' as Hermione put it. He really didn't want to be put into danger again at the moment, since he figured there was a chance he would just let something bad happen to him. He was convinced at this point he was getting better since the nightmares weren't as bad normally and neither were his thoughts but sometimes he still wondered. He just needed time he figured and eventually he would be alright … probably … as well as a freak like him could be anyway.

Just then Harry arrived back at the dorms and quickly grabbed his things before turning around and heading to class already late.

He returned to his thoughts as he ran about how he was immensely relieved when Dumbledore announced the rules for the main tournament that it was not just voluntary but he couldn't even compete because of his age. He very nearly jumped out of his seat and hollered but managed to keep it in to a faint yes that was muffled by the cries of many hopeful contenders all seeking glory, some galleons, and the greatest resume booster of all time. After all the main tournament let three of the most gifted witches and wizards show off for anyone and everyone in Europe and some even further abroad would attend.

That had been the only reason at all the Hermione had admitted she might have considered competing for anyway. She had already said she was likely going to try to compete in at least one of the academic competitions though. Ron on the other hand was clearly pissed he wouldn't have a chance to prove himself and win some glory and galleons that his family could desperately make use of. Ron hadn't yet expressed any interest in the side events though Harry wasn't even sure he had looked at the full list.

Dumbledore had mentioned there were a total of 33 different events if one included the main tournament which Harry thought was overkill. He didn't even see the point of a gobstones competition after all. But the wizarding world never did seem to do things by halves so he shouldn't be surprised they had decided to go all out even if he doubted many of the events would get much attention.

Finally Harry arrived at professor Babblings classroom and paused a moment to catch his breath. After a moment he opened the classroom door and heard "remember from last year that we studied…" the professor paused noticing him.

"Ah Mr. Potter it seems Minny was right you were late almost exactly…" she paused and silently cast a tempus "10 minutes which means I owe her galleon."

Harry stared at he a bit confused. Had they bet on his tardiness? If so why? Was this a common thing that professors did? Harry realized she and the whole class were staring at him.

He chuckled nervously and shifted back and forth "um sorry about that professor… the um lateness I mean … well and the galleon too I suppose."

For a moment Babbling stared at him blank faced and Harry was nervous now that she was furious. Instead she broke out into a smile and shook her head before seeming to say something.

"I'm sorry professor what was that?" Harry asked

"Nothing Mr. Potter just go ahead and find yourself any available seat but make sure to stick around after class for a moment."

"Uh … right professor" Harry said rather awkwardly while scanning the room full of mainly 4th years like him but also a few 5th and 6th years he thought he recognized. Eventually right down front to the far left he found his frizzy haired best friend looking back at him curiously.

Quickly noting the nearest open seat behind her he made toward it dealing with the stares of his many curious peers the whole way. As he made his way to his seat the professor continued.

"Right now as I was saying last year we studied the basic runes of Egyptian, Greek, and Celtic origin. This year we will continue to expand our knowledge of these sets as well as working to integrate them into combined rune sets which are crucial to modern wards."

"Now as…" the professor continued on but Harry was only half paying attention as parchment landed on his desk.

'Harry what are you doing here?' –Hermione

Harry looked up and noticed the girl give him a glance back with an almost desperate look in her eyes. He rolled his eyes at her knowing she was curious as usual. He was about to write his response but then he had an idea to tease her by pulling his own little prank.

Instead of writing his response he instead just made a smiley face before sending it back to the girl with a subtle wave of his wand. He then returned to his note taking pointedly ignoring Hermione's reaction.

It was few minutes later the note returned to his desk 'Harry!' He looked up again to see the girl shooting him daggers but he just smiled and returned to his notes not bothering to respond. Which was why he wasn't surprised when a few minutes later he was instead hit in the head by another piece of parchment this one balled up.

He looked up again to find Hermione looking forward seemingly ignoring him so he returned to his notes only for the same piece of parchment that just hit him to rise from his desk and hit him again. Harry confused grabbed the clearly charmed parchment and opened it only to find it blank. Harry chuckled, he supposed Hermione had decided to return his little prank with one of her own.

He decided to return the favor and after glancing at the professor he threw the parchment at Hermione's head. Only to be surprised when a moment from hitting her the parchment stopped and instead started rocketing toward his head again. Fortunately his seeker reflexes kicked in and he ducked the small ball.

Which he was pretty proud of until he heard an indignant squawk behind him. Causing him and most of the class to glance toward the noise.

"Are you alright Miss Greengrass?"Professor Babbling asked the blonde girl behind him. She glanced at Harry clearly thinking this was his fault and Harry did his best to look sorry.

Fortunately for him it must have worked because the girl sighed before saying "It's nothing professor please continue."

Babbling nodded clearly not buying it but said "Are you sure Miss Greengrass?"

Greengrass nodded "Yes professor nothing to worry about sorry for the interruption."

Babbling nodded and returned to the lesson and Harry sent Greengrass his best smile and mouthed thanks which after a moment she returned before mouthing something like "you're welcome."

Harry nodded and returned to his notes only to get hit in the back of the head less than a minute later. Picking up the fallen and obviously charmed parchment so he could banish it he noticed Greengrass indicating something that after a moment he realized was for him to open it.

Inside some writing. 'Potter next time you dodge please try to remember what's behind you. I don't want to be involved in yours and Grangers flirting.'

Harry blanched at that last bit. It was obvious she had seen the whole thing or at least most of it and had decided he and Hermione were flirting. Which was just … well actually it wasn't that weird Harry glanced up at his friend. She was certainly pretty, at least Harry thought so but he had never really thought about dating her. Till this summer he hadn't really thought about girls that way much anyway. That day he met Becca Harry later realized something had changed for him even though he never got to see her again.

So now he was pretty flustered thinking about his friend and what dating her would be like and well he didn't hate it. She was such a good friend, brilliant, always there for him, and she really was pretty he thought glancing at her again.

After a moment though he shook his head that probably wasn't a good idea and he definitely hadn't been flirting anyway. He glanced back at the blonde who was pointedly ignoring him now.

He wrote his response 'We weren't flirting Greengrass we were just pranking each other. Sorry you got caught in the crossfire though and thank you for not outing us to Babbling.' He glanced up at the professor and when her back was turned he flicked his wand and sent the parchment back to Greengrass.

A few minute later the parchment returned landing on his desk 'You're welcome Potter, you owe me one I suppose. That sure looked like flirting to me though. Potter you sure you're not just one of those clueless guys who can't tell when a girl likes you?'

To be totally honest Harry wasn't sure he could tell if a girl liked him. The only two he knew for sure had a crush on him was Ron's sister Ginny who was so obviously obsessed with him before he saved her from the chamber and after she didn't seem to have gotten any better, at least since he last saw her. The other was moaning myrtle who was both weird as hell and well dead which was not good obviously.

So if Hermione did like him then Harry probably had no idea. He glanced at his friend again who was oblivious to his internal dilemma. He suddenly got the image of kissing her and for a moment he got lost in the thought of it. What would it feel like? What would it taste like? Could he do more with her? He glanced a little lower and remembered he stared at her butt the other day while she had been stowing her trunk. She had been in pants without robes which really let him see her form clearly and well…

Harry shook his head blushing and a bit worried he had been thinking about his friend that way. Why was her arse even attractive to him anyway? Harry had pretty basic education on sex so he couldn't figure out why that was. Ever since he spoke to Becca at the beginning of the summer he had gotten turned on by just about every feature a girl had at one point or another.

From Becca's rather generous bust, to Hermione's arse, or even Greengrass' long slender legs that Harry had glanced at. Hopefully without being noticed while she was talking to professor Babbling. Did they connect to a butt as attractive as Hermione's? There certainly seemed like there was a good chance of that after all.

Harry really tried to imagine the pretty blonde without her robes in something more revealing perhaps and that was about when he realized he had a problem. A quite hard and embarrassing problem that he had to deal with more and more the past two years but had really increased during summer.

Harry knew he had two solutions to the problem and obviously one wasn't an option at the moment so instead he imagined Vernon's sister Marge, Dumbledore, and Snape all doing unspeakable things to each other. Fortunately that quickly did the trick and Harry was just left embarrassed with Greengrass' note.

Greengrass whose legs and body he had just fantasized about seeing more off. He shook his head not wanting to get lost in those kinds of thoughts again.

He realized his thoughts had completely got off track, damn he hated his body sometimes, well most of the time for being too thin and covered in scars but this too. He got distracted all the time now by girls even when they weren't around so no he would probably have no idea if one liked him like that he would be to distracted to notice.

But he couldn't let Greengrass know that so he wrote 'Of course I'm sure we weren't flirting Greengrass, Hermione and I are just friends after all. Also guys aren't that clueless. I would definitely notice if someone liked me much less my best friend.'

Harry sent the note back knowing most of that was lies but he didn't need Greengrass spreading any rumors which he was sure is what she was after.

For a while nothing happened and Harry continued to halfheartedly take notes distracted by his curiosity about what Greengrass was thinking. He really hoped she would just take his word for it and let it die but she was Slytherin. So he wouldn't be surprised if she spread this around anyway. It would be far more irritating to have to deal with rumors he and Hermione were dating than losing a few house points for goofing off after all.

Toward the end of class the paper landed in front of him once more. All that was written on it was 'Interesting Potter very interesting.'

That did not ease Harry's worries one bit and he was trying to figure out what to write back to convince Greengrass they really weren't interested in each other. He was racking his brain to keep the pretty Slytherin from spreading this when he ran out of time. Babbling announced class was over and Harry couldn't even follow the girl to talk to her because he had to stay back.

He glanced back at her as she was putting her things away only for her to look up and meet his gaze with a smirk. The kind Harry himself had sometimes when he was teasing Hermione, Ron, or really anyone. Which is why Harry was pretty sure he was in trouble so he sighed before looking away, there probably wasn't anything he could've said anyway to convince her anyway.

He packed up his own things and headed for the Babbling's desk. On the way he passed Hermione pausing to quickly say "I'll catch up with you in charms, I've got to talk to professor Babbling."

"Harry wait" he stopped but didn't turn he wasn't sure he could look at her without thinking about her in a way he probably shouldn't.

Fortunately Hermione didn't seem to care as she said "I uhh… just sorry about the paper I didn't mean to almost get you in trouble."

"Ha Hermione that was as much me as it was you, so it's no problem." He said half turning "You should probably apologize to Greengrass too though."

"Right… Yes that's what I was going to do next I'll see you in a bit Harry." Hermione said a bit awkwardly which was odd. But Harry didn't have time to worry about that and continued on to Babbling who was going over some papers on her desk.

As he approached she looked up "Ah Mr. Potter thank you for remembering to stay behind I won't hold you too long. Now I know you already discussed this with Professor McGonagall but I wanted to double check after you had sat through a class are you up for this?"

Ah shite harry thought he didn't think they would give another out. Harry was so distracted most of the class that he wasn't anymore more sure now than he was when he entered if this was a good idea or not. But not he had paid attention to was too worrying yet so he supposed there was no reason to back down after all that wouldn't be very Gryffindor of him.

He nodded "Yes professor I think I can handle the course load just go easy on me please huh?" He said with a nervous chuckle

Babbling smiled at him "Yes McGonagall did mention you had your father's pennant for wits and jokes at least. Though she also said you might have your mothers intelligence based on your performance in her class and this test."

"Did you know my parents professor?" Harry asked a little surprised

Babbling shook her head "Not really Mr. Potter. I did start teaching her your parent's final year so I did teach Lily but outside of class we hardly spoke. I'm sure I had at least one conversation with James while he was head boy but mostly I only know about the two through their reputations at the time and stories I've heard since."

"Oh I see." Harry said a bit disappointed he probably couldn't learn anything more from her than he already knew.

"Yes well now I'm sure McGonagall also sure mentioned that you would have a tutor to for the first semester. So I suppose you could say I am taking it easy on you by providing such wouldn't say Mr. Potter?"

"Ah… I uh suppose so professor." Harry said thinking that wasn't really what he meant but he couldn't really argue with her.

"Good then let me introduce your tutor for the semester. She had the one of the best scores in runes last year and volunteered to help those that passed the remedial exam."

She waved her hand to indicate someone apparently behind Harry to approach. Out of the corner of Harry's eye a girl stepped forward that had blonde hair and a bland look on her face.

"Mr. Potter this is Miss Greengrass please do try to listen to her this semester she is your best hope for passing after all. Also none of that silly Slytherin and Gyrfindor rivalry please it gets so tiresome."

Harry was stunned and could only stare silently at the girl who he had hoped for a moment was Hermione but instead he now had this blonde vixen standing to his right.

"What's wrong Potter, surprised I'm not your girlfriend?" she said then gave him another smirk that Harry was now 100% positive meant trouble.

* * *

**AN: Well that was fun and I think better established the personality I going for with Daphne. Wouldn't say the it was amazing dialogue or anything but it seems like it got but my ideas across on read back. Anyway I think you all see where the story plan is going. Harry is going to have the hots for his tutor lol. Which is something I relate to once upon a time though mine was like a decade older than me and obviously one sided. Also I tried to make Harry come off as a realistic 14 year old with little knowledge of sex. This story won't have any sex scenes but there will be plenty of mentions of it mostly from Harry's perspective unless someone tells him theirs. So try to keep that in mind he his a teenage boy in the 90's growing up with seemingly no way to learn about sex other than experience and what other boys tell him. Unless Hogwarts has sex ed which I guess it does just cause I can't think of who else would've explained it to Harry at all. The only other choice is probably Arthur Weasley or Sirius, imaging Arthur do it is hilarious since the dude is probably a god at sex considering the amount of kids he has. It's also funny because Harry in canon hypothetically used whatever he was told to bang the mans daughter lol. Well let me know what you thought if you feel like it. **


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